{"id":5725,"date":"2020-07-19T13:52:53","date_gmt":"2020-07-19T13:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsnewsforyou.com\/?p=5725"},"modified":"2020-07-19T13:52:53","modified_gmt":"2020-07-19T13:52:53","slug":"emmanuel-macron-to-fire-elysee-security-official-filmed-beating-protester-as-scandal-of-state-grows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/?p=5725","title":{"rendered":"Emmanuel Macron to fire Elys\u00e9e security official filmed beating protester as &#8216;scandal of state&#8217; grows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The French presidency is to fire a top security aide who beat a protester during a demonstration in Paris in May after saying \u201cnew facts\u201d had emerged in a scandal that has deeply embarrassed Emmanuel Macron.<\/p>\n<p>A video released this week shows Alexandre Benalla, 26, dragging and hitting a demonstrator while wearing a police helmet and armband, even though he is not a member of the force.<\/p>\n<p>Paris prosecutors also said Mr Benalla has been detained for questioning in the assault inquiry, where he also faces charges of impersonating a police officer.<\/p>\n<p>A second reservist gendarme, Vincent Crase, also present on May 1, has also been detained for questioning.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;New facts that could constitute misdemeanour by Alexandre Benalla were brought to the president&#8217;s attention,&quot; said an Elys\u00e9e official. &quot;As a result&#8230; the presidency has decided to start Alexandre Benalla&#8217;s dismissal procedure,&quot; the official added.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<noscript><\/noscript><figcaption>\nEmmanuel Macron&#39;s former campaign security chief Alexandre Benalla, left of the president, is to be fired over a film in which he can be seen hitting a protester in police clothingCredit:<br \/>\nChristophe Ena\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The \u201cnew facts\u201d are related to the suspension of three senior Paris policemen, according to <em>Le Monde<\/em>, which first reported on the video.<\/p>\n<p>The three include a commander tasked with liaising between Paris police headquarters and the Elys\u00e9e and commissioner Maxence Creusat, in charge of the force at Place de la Contrescarpe in Paris where the incident occurred on May 1.<\/p>\n<p><em>Le Monde<\/em> said the three were suspended for having passed on video surveillance footage of the scene to Mr Benalla in \u201crecent days\u201d &#8211; presumably so he could prepare his defence. This development appears to have prompted the dismissal.<\/p>\n<p><em>Le Monde<\/em> released on Wednesday night a film shot by a student activist in which Mr Benalla grabs a woman by the neck, charging her down the street. Shortly afterwards he returns to the scene, drags a young man along the floor, grabs him by the neck and hits him.<\/p>\n<p>Riot police present do not intervene to stop him.<\/p>\n<p>A second\u00a0clip released on Friday from another angle shows Mr Benalla forcing the girl, the companion of the young man who was beaten,\u00a0onto the floor.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"fr\" dir=\"ltr\">1er mai, \u00e0 la place de la Contrescarpe. Dommage qu&#39;on ne parle pas aussi de cette jeune femme qui s&#39;est fait violenter, elle aussi, par Alexandre Benalla avant que ce dernier s&#39;en prenne \u00e0 son ami. #AffaireBenalla #MyFirstTweet pic.twitter.com\/IZpon8MnkD<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Sonia B-C (@scarletpolyglot) July 19, 2018<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Paris prosecutor yesterday launched a preliminary probe into \u201cviolence by a person with a public service mission, usurping a function and usurping signs reserved for public authority.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>The ex-security chief was suspended for two weeks in May over the incident, demoted and threatened with dismissal if he did anything else untoward. But he was allowed to continue working at the Elys\u00e9e and reportedly helped manage security for a garden party at the presidential palace for the victorious French football squad on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The Elys\u00e9e and government condemned Mr Benalla\u2019s actions, amid reports suggesting he had a history of overstepping the mark, but had stopped short of calling for his dismissal until now.<\/p>\n<p>That led to furious opposition calls of a \u201ccover up\u201d and a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the incident, which has been granted.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Police have meanwhile launched their own investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Interior minister G\u00e9rard Collomb is due to be questioned by the Senate next week, amid press revelations that he had learned of Mr Benalla\u2019s actions as early as\u00a0May 2.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>USM, France&#8217;s main magistrates&#8217; union, said that under clause 40 of the French penal code, the\u00a0Elys\u00e9e should have informed the judiciary of the incident at the time if it had any suspicion that a crime had been committed.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<noscript><\/noscript><figcaption>\nEmmanuel Macron is facing the &#34;worst political scandal in his presidency&#34;, according to one political commentatorCredit:<br \/>\n\u00a0AFP\/GONZALO FUENTES<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Patrick Hetzel of the centre-Right opposition party, The Republicans, accused Mr Collomb of a \u201cstring of lies&quot;\u00a0in what was a \u201cscandal of state\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Macron has not yet commented on the affair, except to to say that \u201cthe French Republic is immutable\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Commentators called the botched handling of the affair, in which little was done in 36 hours, a PR \u201cdisaster\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf (President Macron) had fired this aide right from the start of the first day, we would be looking at less serious crisis,\u201d said political scientist Benjamin Morel told BFMTV.<\/p>\n<p>Political communication expert Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet warned there could be electoral repercussions for the president.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are campaigns underway &#8211; the European elections are coming up, as are the municipal elections in which the image of an Elys\u00e9e adviser beating up protesters \u2026 will pose problems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The French presidency is to fire a top security aide who beat a protester during a demonstration in Paris in May after saying \u201cnew facts\u201d had emerged in a scandal that has deeply embarrassed Emmanuel Macron. A video released this week shows Alexandre Benalla, 26, dragging and hitting a demonstrator while wearing a police helmet&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5725\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}