Fuss over bodyguard a ‘storm in a teacup’

PA R IS: French President Emmanuel Macron dismissed the scandal surrounding a top security aide who roughed up protesters as a “storm in a teacup”, as furious criticism from his opponents showed no sign of abating.

The former bodyguard in question, 26-year-old Alexandre Benalla, denounced what he said was a “desire to get at the president” over the scandal, the most damaging since Macron took office over a year ago.

Benalla, who faces criminal charges after videos emerged of him manhandling May Day demonstrators in Paris while wearing a police helmet and armband, admitted, however, that he had “made a mistake”.

“I feel like I have done something really stupid. And have made a mistake,” Benalla, who has been charged with assault and impersonating a police officer, told Le Monde newspaper.

“I should never have gone to that demonstration as an observer, then I should have held back,” he said of the incident, in which he was filmed hitting a protester and wrestling another to the ground.

Revelations that top officials in Macron’s office knew about the incident but did not report Benalla to prosecutors have prompted accusations of an attempted cover-up, which the government denies.

The centrist president sought to downplay the affair yesterday.

“I’ve said what I had to say, which is that I think it’s a storm in a teacup,” he told reporters on a visit to the village of Campan in southwest France. — AFP