Bodyguard video ‘being used to attack Macron’

THE former bodyguard of Emmanuel Macron has admitted he made a “mistake” when he manhandled protesters at a May Day demonstration, but said it was being used by opponents “to get at the president”.

The French president has dismissed the affair as a “storm in a teacup”, but furious criticism from his political enemies shows no sign of abating. Opposition MPS have repeatedly called on Mr Macron to address the nation over the affair.

“I don’t feel I betrayed the president. I feel I made a big mistake,” Alexandre Benalla, the 26-year-old bodyguard, said in an interview with Le Monde, the newspaper that broke the story.

He said he had provided a way for opponents to attack Mr Macron. “It’s a way of grabbing the president by the scruff of the neck. I was the way in to get at him, the weak link,” he added.