A French policeman has been suspended and faces criminal charges after being filmed repeatedly punching a black community leader in a troubled Paris suburb.

Disturbing video posted on social media shows Lamine Ba, 34, being pulled to the ground and scuffling with the unidentified officer.

The policeman then punches Mr Ba full in the face, as an impromptu boxing match breaks out in the street in Sevran, a town in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, north east of Paris.

It is the latest in a series of alleged racist attacks by police that has caused outrage around the high-immigrant estates that surround the French capital.

Video shared on social media shows the police man speaking, left, with black community leader Lamine Ba, dressed in light trousers, before tackling him to the floor, right, and punching him during an altercation in Sevran, a town north east of Paris, on Wednesday

A spokesman for the local prefecture said: 'The altercation took place at 6.25pm on Wednesday when officers arrested a man.

'The officer seen hitting the arrested man has since been suspended and details of the incident passed to prosecutors in Bobigny.'

The file has also been passed on to the IGNPN, the General Inspectorate of the National Police, which investigates misconduct among French police officers.

Mr Ba is a highly respected community leader on the Beaudottes estate - a series of housing estates with a population of more than 10,000.

He frequently mediates with police over problems in the area, especially those involving young people who claim they are discriminated against because of their ethnic origin.

Mr Ba was accused by the officer who punched him of 'showing contempt' and 'responding aggressively' when originally questioned.

The officer, who has since been suspended, hits Mr Ba several times, left and right, and the community leader also throws some punches during the incident. A police union has criticised authorities for acting based on 'Twitter pressure' before they knew the 'exact facts'

After being punched he was tasered and then taken to hospital, where he was later 'released from custody for medical reasons,' according to the prefecture.

Other police have reacted with anger to the suspension of the officer, with some protesting outside the Commissioner's officer in nearby Aulnay-sous-Bois on Thursday night.

Mr Ba, pictured far left during the incident with the police man, was tasered during the arrest and taken to hospital

Linda Kebbab, of the SGP police union, said the officer had been doing his duty and was solely suspended because of a 'truncated video'.

Grégory Goupil, regional secretary of the Alliance 93 union, said: 'The officer did his job, he was trying to arrest an invidual.'

Mr Goupil said there had been 49 suicides among French police officers this year and pressure on them was mounting.

And Frédéric Lagache, of the Alliance Union, said: 'Before knowing the exact facts, the administration is acting on Twitter pressure. This is new proof of the dehumanization of the police system.'

Last year video emerged of a plainclothes policeman beating up a 14-year-old schoolboy while threatening his friends with a revolver in Aulnay-sous-Bois.

It was also in Aulnay that a 22-year-old man had a police telescopic truncheon inserted in his anus during an arrest.

Such attacks have led to protests by activists who regularly accuse the police of being racist.