French politicians and newspapers reacted with shock and consternation yesterday to the brutal pre-dawn arrest of a senior newspaper executive over a relatively trivial libel case. [..] Politicians, including a spokesman for President Sarkozy's centre-right party, the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire called for a high-level investigation of the "surreal" and "utterly disproportionate" treatment of the senior journalist.
The incident is embarrassing for President Sarkozy who recently inaugurated discussions and investigations on the financial and political status of the press in France. Opposition politicians said that the incident, especially the use of the word racaille, suggested some French police officers felt that, with M. Sarkozy in power, they could get away with almost anything.
