France offers citizenship to Malian immigrant who scaled building to save child
PARIS, (Reuters) - France yesterday offered citizenship to an illegal immigrant from Mali who scaled the facade of a Paris apartment block to save a boy who was about to fall from a fourth-floor balcony, President Emmanuel Macron said.
Video shows Mamoudou Gassama, 22, risking his life on Sunday as he climbed up the balconies to rescue the fouryear-old who is clinging to a railing and glancing at the ground below, while horrified onlookers watched.
The video went viral and Gassama, who has been nicknamed “SpiderMan” for reaching the boy in the nick of time, was swiftly granted a meeting at the Elysee Palace.
“I did it because it was a child,” French newspaper Le Parisien quoted Gassama as saying. “I Mamoudou Gassama (right) with President Emmanuel Macron yesterday
climbed .... Thank God I saved him.”
Macron congratulated Gassama for “an exceptional act” and said France would give him a job in the emergency services.
“We’ll obviously be setting all your papers straight and if you wish it, we will start the process of naturalization so that you can become French,” he added.
Ministers said the citizenship process would be France’s
sped up, although Gassama can’t legally be granted it right away.
As elsewhere in Europe, immigration from Africa and the Middle East has fixated French public opinion in the last few years, fueling the rise of far-right parties such as the National Front.
Macron, who had been criticised by left-wing voters for taking a tougher stance on immigration CARACAS, (Reuters) - Two active generals with Venezuela’s National Guard were part of a group of 15 military officials arrested around the time of the socialist-run nation’s widely criticized May 20 presidential election, a local rights group said yesterday.
Generals Pedro Naranjo and Nelson Morales appeared on Sunday before a military tribunal at the Defense Ministry, according to Gonzalo Himiob of the Penal Forum group, who said the men were the highest-ranking recent detainees from the armed forces.
Scores of soldiers have been detained on accusations of conspiring against the leftist government of Nicolas Maduro or deserting. Penal Forum said there were now 355 “political prisoners” in total in Venezuela.
The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the Maduro government, which rejects use of the term “political prisoner,” has said all politicians and members of the security forces in detention face legitimate criminal charges, including coup-plotting.
Internal military documents show arrests have been rising sharply within the armed forces, where there is discontent within the ranks, especially at food shortages and dwindling salaries due to Venezuela’s crushing economic crisis.
Documents recently reviewed by Reuters showed the number of new detentions of soldiers for treason, rebellion and desertion rose to 172 in the first four months of 2018, up 3-1/2 times over the same period last year.
Penal Forum says at least 48 military officials, including the group of 15, have been arrested this year.