France honours cop who gave his life in terror siege
FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron yesterday described the heroic police officer killed by an Islamic State terrorist as the symbol of the “French spirit of resistance”.
Arnaud Beltrame, 44, was stabbed in the throat and shot repeatedly after taking the place of a hostage during a supermarket siege by Redouane Lakdim, 25, in Trebes, southern France, last Friday. It has now emerged that five bullets were fired from his service pistol after three hours in captivity.
France was united in mourning yesterday as his coffin, draped in the colours of the French flag, was taken in a Paris procession from the Pantheon to a ceremony at Hotel des Invalides, where he was posthumously awarded the Legion of Honour.
President Macron said: “The name of his attacker will be forgotten, but the name of Arnaud Beltrame will live on. His example will remain etched in French hearts.”
The President addressed the hundreds who gathered at the ceremony, vowing to ensure “he will not have died in vain”, and urging the nation to be vigilant in the face of an “insidious” jihadist threat.
He compared the officer’s sacrifice to the country’s Second World War heroes and added: “To accept to die so the innocent can live – that is the essence of what it means to be a soldier.”
Three former presidents – Francois Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy and Valery Giscard d’Estaing – attended the ceremony.
A minute’s silence was held in police stations and at a series of school events.
The officer and his wife Marielle were married by a priest as Lt Col Beltrame lay dying in hospital on Saturday. She described his sacrifice as “the act of a policeman and the act of a Christian”.
Lt Col Beltrame reportedly kept a picture of himself and Marielle in his hat. The family have said the hat, with the picture inside, will rest with him in his coffin.