Macron slammed as aide investigated
PARIS: The Elysee Palace said last night President Emmanuel Macron would fire the aide who was caught on camera striking a May Day protester.
Macron came under fire yesterday after his office briefly suspended the aide for the beating and for posing as a police officer, but did not inform law enforcement authorities.
The aide was being questioned by police last night.
Critics of Macron said the incident reinforced perceptions of a lofty, outoftouch president, following controversies over government spending on official crockery, a swimming pool built at a presidential retreat, and cutting remarks by the president about the costs of welfare.
A video from a May Day rally this year, released by Le Monde newspaper on Thursday, showed a man wearing a police helmet and identification tag dragging a woman away and then beating a demonstrator. He was later recognised as a member of the French presidential staff.
‘‘The staff member, Alexandre Benalla, had been given permission to witness the demonstrations only as an observer,’’ presidential spokesman Bruno RogerPetit said in a video statement.
‘‘Clearly, he went beyond this . . . He was immediately sum moned by the president’s chief of staff and given a 15day suspension. This came as punishment for unacceptable behaviour.’’
On a trip to southwestern France yesterday, Macron declined to answer questions on the subject, saying only in a video posted by a Le Figaro reporter: ‘‘I didn’t come here to see you. I came to see Mr Mayor.’’
The Paris prosecutor, unaware of the matter before yesterday, launched a preliminary investigation against Benalla on suspicion of violence, usurping the function of a police officer and using signs reserved for public authorities.
Later, the speaker of the lower house of Parliament, Francois de Rugy, announced a parliamentary inquiry into the case.
Opposition parties condemned the presidency’s handling of the matter, arguing the punishment was too lenient and the incident should have been referred promptly to judicial authorities.
‘‘This video is shocking. Today we have the feeling that in Macron’s entourage one is above the law,’’ Laurent Wauquiez, president of the conservative Republicains, told Europe 1 radio.
Farleft leader JeanLuc Melenchon told reporters: ‘‘If we accept that anybody can be a policeman alongside the police then we no longer have the rule of law. This man is the eyes and ears of the prince [Macron].’’
Some lawmakers in Macron’s centrist party also called for Benalla to be dismissed. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who denounced ‘‘shocking images’’ in the video, said it was now up to the courts to decide.
Labour unions hold demonstrations every year on May 1 in France and clashes with police are not uncommon.
After the 15day suspension, Benalla was brought back into the president’s immediate entourage.