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Emmanuel Macron security official filmed hitting protester Macron security official filmed beating protester while wearing police visor
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One of Emmanuel Macron’s top security officers is at the centre of a potentially damaging scandal for the French president after being filmed hitting a protester. France’s public prosecutor has opened a preliminary inquiry after one of Emmanuel Macron’s top security officers was filmed hitting and stamping on a young man at the edge of a Paris demonstration while illegally dressed as a police officer.
Le Monde newspaper published a video on Wednesday showing Alexandre Benalla hitting and then stamping on a young man while wearing a police visor during a demonstration in central Paris on 1 May. Prosecutors are investigating possible charges of violence by a public official as well as pretending to be a policeman and illegally using police insignia.
Benalla, who is not a police officer and previously worked as bodyguard, had been given permission to observe police operations during a day off for the 1 May public holiday, Macron’s office said. The video, first published by Le Monde, is potentially damaging for the French president because the security official, Alexandre Benalla, was a senior member of security staff at the Élysée Palace.
The presidential palace added that Benalla had been suspended for two weeks after the incident came to light and had been transferred out of his role as security organiser for Macron’s trips. Benalla, who previously worked as a bodyguard and has never been employed as a police officer, had asked for permission to use a day off to “observe police operations” on the Labour day bank holiday on 1 May. There are usually May Day street marches led by trade unions in Paris.
“This sanction was to punish unacceptable behaviour and it was a final warning before being sacked,” said the president’s spokesman, Bruni Roger-Petit. The video shows Benalla in a Paris square where riot police were teargassing and moving on young people. Benalla, wearing a police visor, is seen first grabbing and dragging a woman, then dragging, hitting and stamping on an unarmed young man who seems to be in pain. The many riot police close by appear to let Benalla carry out the violence untroubled.
Prosecutors in Paris opened an investigation on Thursday into possible charges of violence by a public official, of pretending to be a police officer and of the illegal use of police insignia. One witness who saw the incident said: “What I watched was not normal, it was extraordinary, it was not legal and it was not techniques used by the police. It’s unacceptable, I’m extremely angry and I want to see action by the justice system, police and administration against this member of staff of the presidency.”
Benalla was a popular and ever-present member of Macron’s campaign team, usually found several steps behind the then candidate, and he transferred to the presidential staff in May 2017. Le Monde reported that after the incident in May, the president’s office suspended Benalla for two weeks and then allowed him to stay in his job, shifting him to more administrative tasks.
Opposition MPs immediately suggested there had been a cover-up and questioned why the incident had not been referred to the police when it came to light in May. Benalla was a well-known face on Macron’s campaign trail for the presidency in 2017 and would regularly walk close to the candidate as part of his security operation. When Macron won the election, Benalla was transferred to the security staff at the Elysée.
The Socialist party leader, Olivier Faure, said there was a a double standard in how Benalla had been treated compared with any ordinary French citizen. The scandal worsened when the French TV channel BFM reported that Benalla was involved with the security operation this week for the French football team’s World Cup victory parade in an open-top bus down the Champs-Élysées.
Alexis Corbière, an MP for the hard-left France Unbowed party, said Benalla “deserves to be punished with a prison sentence, at least a suspended sentence, and with very heavy sanctions.” It emerged that Benalla had continued to take part in other high-profile presidential security operations, including the burial at the Pantheon this month of Simone Veil, the women’s rights defender and Holocaust survivor.
Supporters of Macron claimed the punishment handed down to Benalla – suspension without pay for two weeks and a transfer to an administrative job – was appropriate. Opposition MPs suggested there had been a cover up and questioned why the incident had not been referred to the police when it came to light in May.
“Someone was found to have unacceptable behaviour and there was a sanction,” the minister for social cohesion, Julien Denormandie, said on France Inter on Thursday, without naming Benalla. “It was immediate … meaning a suspension and a job change.” The Socialist party leader, Olivier Faure, said there was a “a double standard” in how Benalla had been treated compared to any ordinary French citizen.
Richard Ferrand, a senior MP from Macron’s party and a top figure in the campaign team, said: “It was not a close aide, it’s someone who was responsible for security of the president during the election campaign and then joined the Élysée.” Alexis Corbière, an MP for the leftwing party France Insoumise (France Unbowed), said Benalla “deserves to be punished with a prison sentence, at least a suspended sentence and with very heavy sanctions”.
Benalla was suspended from 4-19 May. Asked about the video and the investigation during a visit to south-west France on Thursday, Macron refused to comment, saying only: “I’m here with the people.”
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