https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/19/europe/macron-aide-beat-protesters-intl/index.html
Macron's senior aide given 'warning' for beating May Day protesters
By Kara Fox and Saskya Vandoorne, CNN
Updated 1224 GMT (2024 HKT) July 19, 2018
French President Emmanuel Macron with senior aide Alexandre Benalla in June 2017.
(CNN)A senior security adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron is under investigation for beating up protesters at a May Day demonstration.
Video footage from the protest shows Alexandre Benalla lifting a protester off the ground by his neck and covering his mouth before striking him over the head with his fist.
Benalla had been invited to observe the demonstrations alongside France's riot police for the protests on May 1 in Paris.
Government minister Julien Denormandie called Benalla's behavior "unacceptable" on Thursday.
Speaking to French radio Inter, Denormandie said: "He was invited as an observer and his behavior was unacceptable. He was sanctioned immediately for this. He was suspended and then given a different role."
A spokesperson for the Élysée Palace told CNN that Benalla was suspended for 15 days and would no longer be part of Macron's traveling security detail. The spokesperson also said this punishment was his "last warning" and that "next time" Benalla would be fired.
Activist Taha Bouhafs, who was demonstrating at the protest, captured the incident on his phone.
In an interview with French radio SUD Thursday, Bouhafs said the protest, which was organized in the capital's Latin Quarter, went from a "convivial" atmosphere to a violent one after riot police used tear gas on the crowd and began hitting people with batons.
Bouhafs said he had seen Benalla at various moments throughout the protest wearing a police armband and assumed he was a policeman or a member of special security forces. "I never thought he was someone who worked with Emmanuel Macron," Bouhafs said.
When the 21-year-old saw Benalla grab a woman by the neck and attack an already "neutralized" male protester, he decided to confront him on camera.
"He was very aggressive. There was no reason for this violence. The man was not dangerous, he was on the ground and begging him to stop. Everyone around him, me included, asked Alexandre Benalla to stop. I said, 'Stop! Stop!' Then he stopped and I got closer and filmed his face and said, 'Look at this face. He did this.' And then he fled."
Alexandre Benalla (right) with Macron on the campaign trial last March.
Macron has yet to address the incident, avoiding a question from the media at a meeting he attended in the Dordogne region on Thursday.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left party France Unbowed described the event as "an affair of exceptional gravity."
"If we allow anyone to pretend to be a police officer alongside the police, then we are no longer living in a state of law," Mélenchon told reporters outside the National Assembly on Thursday.
"Why are we having a preliminary inquiry?" Mélenchon added. "All the elements are there to indicate an offense."
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/wor...sing-up-in-police-riot-gear-and-a3891011.html
Emmanuel Macron's security chief Alexandre Benalla faces criminal action after dressing up in police riot gear and beating up a protester
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Impersonator: A security adviser to Emmanuel Macron was caught out after attacking a protester ( )
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This is Emmanuel Macron’s most senior security chief— in full riot police gear beating up an anti-government protester.
Now Alexandre Benalla faces criminal action over the attack on two demonstrators in Paris, which was captured on an astonishing video.
Prosecutors in the city today confirmed they had opened a criminal inquiry, following complaints by numerous witnesses. A spokesman said Mr Macron’s deputy chief of staff faced the possibility of charges for “violence by a person in a public service position”, and impersonating a police officer.
Opponents of the president accused him of trying to cover up the attacks and called for Benalla to be jailed.
But Mr Macron today appeared to be sticking by Benalla, who helped organise World Cup celebrations at the Elysée Palace on Monday.
Benalla outside a cafe at the scene
A Government spokesman said he had already been suspended for 15 days without pay, and was now confined to duties “within the Elysée”.
The footage is from a Paris demonstration on May 1, a traditional day of street action that this year saw hundreds of thousands campaigning against Mr Macron’s employment reforms.
It shows Benella putting on a police helmet, despite not being authorised to do so.
He first grabs a young woman by the neck then turns his attention to a bearded Left-wing activist who has been apprehended by gendarmes. He pulls the man away from the police and slaps him around the head.
When other demonstrators start shouting at Benalla, he looks scared of being identified behind his visor, and slinks off to a café.
MP Alexis Corbière, spokesman for former Left-wing presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said he had “asked for penal sanctions” against a “colleague of Macron who disguised himself as a police officer to commit violence”.
Security staff: Macron and Benalla, right (AFP)
According to Le Monde there are more incriminating videos to go with the ones on the internet. Benalla did not comment.
Government spokesman Bruno Roger-Petit said Benalla was a reservist constable who “asked for permission” to join gendarmes at the protest. “He largely exceeded” the limits of his role and “dismissal for 15 days with deduction of wages”, followed, Mr Petit said.
Benalla, who is in his mid-thirties, grew up in Evreux, Normandy, and studied law before doing VIP protection work. He started working directly with Mr Macron in 2016, building a reputation as an uncompromising security chief.
More about: | Emmanuel Macron | France | Paris
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44883583
Macron aide Benalla in French probe for beating protester
Image copyright TAHAR BOUHAFS Image caption Mr Benalla was supposed to be an observer, officials said - but beat one protester at the scene
French prosecutors are investigating a senior presidential aide who attacked protesters in Paris while wearing a police visor.
Alexandre Benalla, an assistant to President Emmanuel Macron's chief of staff, was filmed targeting a woman and a man during May Day protests.
He was caught on video by a student activist and left the scene once challenged on camera.
He was identified from the video by French newspaper Le Monde.
On Thursday, it emerged he was accompanied on the day by a reserve policeman and employee of Mr Macron's political party, Vincent Crase.
France's Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said he had ordered an investigation by the country's national police inspectorate.
"These two people had no legal right to intervene," he said.
What happened?
The incident took place in a popular tourist spot at Place de la Contrescarpe in the fifth district of Paris, where about 100 people had gathered on 1 May.
The original video, posted on social media by 21-year-old Taha Bouhafs, shows a man in a police helmet who is not in uniform joining CRS riot police after clashes erupted.
Skip Twitter post by @T_Bouhafs
Report
End of Twitter post by @T_Bouhafs
He grabs a woman by the neck, charging her down the street, before both disappear off-camera.
Shortly afterwards he returns to the scene, attacking another protester who had been carried a short distance by police before being left alone on the ground.
The man in the helmet, since identified as Mr Benalla, can be seen grabbing the young protester around the neck, hitting him in the head and apparently stamping on his stomach when he falls to the ground.
Mr Crase is also seen in the fray, holding on to the same protester on the ground before Mr Benalla grabs him.
Riot police do not appear to intervene.
Speaking to French radio on Thursday, activist Taha Bouhafs said that protesters had been "quietly settled" on the square before he recorded his video. "The man on the ground was harmless and begged Benalla to stop," Mr Bouhafs said. "There is no explanation for this outburst of violence."
A presidential spokesman said Mr Benalla had been given permission to attend the disturbance as an observer on his day off. Other photographs show him wearing a police armband.
The Élysée palace later revealed that Vincent Crase, who was seen with Mr Benalla at the scene, had been given the same permission to attend.
A reserve police officer, he started a private security company with Mr Banella, and French media report that the pair are close friends.
Mr Crase has been suspended by En Marche.
Who is Alexandre Benalla?
Mr Benalla's main duty is to arrange security for the president's engagements.
Before he joined the presidential staff he had the role of head of security during Mr Macron's election campaign in 2017.
Image copyright EPA Image caption Mr Macron and Mr Benalla in May 2017, when Mr Benalla was head of the candidate's security
In that role, he was a constant companion to the future president, and archive photographs show the two men together at many high-profile public events.
But Richard Ferrand, a senior member of Mr Macron's party, sought to downplay the importance of Mr Benalla's role.
"This is not a close aide, this is someone who was in charge particularly during the presidential campaign and then he joined the Elysée staff," he told French TV.
President Macron, asked if he had confidence in his bodyguard on Wednesday night, pointed to a member of his entourage. "My bodyguard's over there," he said.
Skip Twitter post by @arthurberdah
Report
End of Twitter post by @arthurberdah
Formerly an employee of a private security firm, Mr Benalla had worked with other French politicians in the past - including leading Socialist Martine Aubry and Mr Macron's predecessor in the Elysée, François Hollande.
In 2012, he was hired as a driver for Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg.
Mr Montebourg told Le Monde that Mr Benalla was fired for misconduct after causing a car accident in the minister's presence and wanting to flee the scene.
What has the reaction been?
Elysée palace spokesman Bruno Roger-Petit said Mr Benalla had been suspended for two weeks without pay from 4 to 19 May, a punishment described as the heaviest so far meted out to a head of mission working at the presidential office.
He had also been moved out of his role of organising security for the president's visits.
However, French TV reported that Mr Benalla had handled security for two key events this month, including the parade of the World Cup-winning France football team along the Champs-Elysées.
Paris prosecutors announced on Thursday they were opening a preliminary investigation into the alleged assault by Mr Benalla.
Possible charges include violence by a public official, pretending to be a policeman and the illegal use of police insignia.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb announced that an investigation into how police observers were supervised had been ordered - and to see if all rules had been followed in the case of Mr Benalla and Mr Crase.
Prime Minister Edouard Phillippe added his voice to the widespread criticism, calling the incident "particularly shocking".
He said the behaviour "cast doubt on the integrity and exemplarity of our police" - but added the case "is now in the hands of justice" after prosecutors announced their preliminary investigation.
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Macron's senior aide given 'warning' for beating May Day protesters
By Kara Fox and Saskya Vandoorne, CNN
Updated 1224 GMT (2024 HKT) July 19, 2018
French President Emmanuel Macron with senior aide Alexandre Benalla in June 2017.
(CNN)A senior security adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron is under investigation for beating up protesters at a May Day demonstration.
Video footage from the protest shows Alexandre Benalla lifting a protester off the ground by his neck and covering his mouth before striking him over the head with his fist.
Benalla had been invited to observe the demonstrations alongside France's riot police for the protests on May 1 in Paris.
Government minister Julien Denormandie called Benalla's behavior "unacceptable" on Thursday.
Speaking to French radio Inter, Denormandie said: "He was invited as an observer and his behavior was unacceptable. He was sanctioned immediately for this. He was suspended and then given a different role."
A spokesperson for the Élysée Palace told CNN that Benalla was suspended for 15 days and would no longer be part of Macron's traveling security detail. The spokesperson also said this punishment was his "last warning" and that "next time" Benalla would be fired.
Activist Taha Bouhafs, who was demonstrating at the protest, captured the incident on his phone.
In an interview with French radio SUD Thursday, Bouhafs said the protest, which was organized in the capital's Latin Quarter, went from a "convivial" atmosphere to a violent one after riot police used tear gas on the crowd and began hitting people with batons.
Bouhafs said he had seen Benalla at various moments throughout the protest wearing a police armband and assumed he was a policeman or a member of special security forces. "I never thought he was someone who worked with Emmanuel Macron," Bouhafs said.
When the 21-year-old saw Benalla grab a woman by the neck and attack an already "neutralized" male protester, he decided to confront him on camera.
"He was very aggressive. There was no reason for this violence. The man was not dangerous, he was on the ground and begging him to stop. Everyone around him, me included, asked Alexandre Benalla to stop. I said, 'Stop! Stop!' Then he stopped and I got closer and filmed his face and said, 'Look at this face. He did this.' And then he fled."
Alexandre Benalla (right) with Macron on the campaign trial last March.
Macron has yet to address the incident, avoiding a question from the media at a meeting he attended in the Dordogne region on Thursday.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left party France Unbowed described the event as "an affair of exceptional gravity."
"If we allow anyone to pretend to be a police officer alongside the police, then we are no longer living in a state of law," Mélenchon told reporters outside the National Assembly on Thursday.
"Why are we having a preliminary inquiry?" Mélenchon added. "All the elements are there to indicate an offense."
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/wor...sing-up-in-police-riot-gear-and-a3891011.html
Emmanuel Macron's security chief Alexandre Benalla faces criminal action after dressing up in police riot gear and beating up a protester
- Peter Allen
- 21 hours ago
Click to follow
The Evening Standard
Impersonator: A security adviser to Emmanuel Macron was caught out after attacking a protester ( )
ES News Email
or register with your social account
I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts by email
Already have an account? Log in
This is Emmanuel Macron’s most senior security chief— in full riot police gear beating up an anti-government protester.
Now Alexandre Benalla faces criminal action over the attack on two demonstrators in Paris, which was captured on an astonishing video.
Prosecutors in the city today confirmed they had opened a criminal inquiry, following complaints by numerous witnesses. A spokesman said Mr Macron’s deputy chief of staff faced the possibility of charges for “violence by a person in a public service position”, and impersonating a police officer.
Opponents of the president accused him of trying to cover up the attacks and called for Benalla to be jailed.
But Mr Macron today appeared to be sticking by Benalla, who helped organise World Cup celebrations at the Elysée Palace on Monday.
A Government spokesman said he had already been suspended for 15 days without pay, and was now confined to duties “within the Elysée”.
The footage is from a Paris demonstration on May 1, a traditional day of street action that this year saw hundreds of thousands campaigning against Mr Macron’s employment reforms.
It shows Benella putting on a police helmet, despite not being authorised to do so.
He first grabs a young woman by the neck then turns his attention to a bearded Left-wing activist who has been apprehended by gendarmes. He pulls the man away from the police and slaps him around the head.
When other demonstrators start shouting at Benalla, he looks scared of being identified behind his visor, and slinks off to a café.
MP Alexis Corbière, spokesman for former Left-wing presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said he had “asked for penal sanctions” against a “colleague of Macron who disguised himself as a police officer to commit violence”.
According to Le Monde there are more incriminating videos to go with the ones on the internet. Benalla did not comment.
Government spokesman Bruno Roger-Petit said Benalla was a reservist constable who “asked for permission” to join gendarmes at the protest. “He largely exceeded” the limits of his role and “dismissal for 15 days with deduction of wages”, followed, Mr Petit said.
Benalla, who is in his mid-thirties, grew up in Evreux, Normandy, and studied law before doing VIP protection work. He started working directly with Mr Macron in 2016, building a reputation as an uncompromising security chief.
More about: | Emmanuel Macron | France | Paris
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44883583
Macron aide Benalla in French probe for beating protester
- 19 July 2018
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Image copyright TAHAR BOUHAFS Image caption Mr Benalla was supposed to be an observer, officials said - but beat one protester at the scene
French prosecutors are investigating a senior presidential aide who attacked protesters in Paris while wearing a police visor.
Alexandre Benalla, an assistant to President Emmanuel Macron's chief of staff, was filmed targeting a woman and a man during May Day protests.
He was caught on video by a student activist and left the scene once challenged on camera.
He was identified from the video by French newspaper Le Monde.
On Thursday, it emerged he was accompanied on the day by a reserve policeman and employee of Mr Macron's political party, Vincent Crase.
France's Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said he had ordered an investigation by the country's national police inspectorate.
"These two people had no legal right to intervene," he said.
What happened?
The incident took place in a popular tourist spot at Place de la Contrescarpe in the fifth district of Paris, where about 100 people had gathered on 1 May.
The original video, posted on social media by 21-year-old Taha Bouhafs, shows a man in a police helmet who is not in uniform joining CRS riot police after clashes erupted.
Skip Twitter post by @T_Bouhafs
Report
End of Twitter post by @T_Bouhafs
He grabs a woman by the neck, charging her down the street, before both disappear off-camera.
Shortly afterwards he returns to the scene, attacking another protester who had been carried a short distance by police before being left alone on the ground.
The man in the helmet, since identified as Mr Benalla, can be seen grabbing the young protester around the neck, hitting him in the head and apparently stamping on his stomach when he falls to the ground.
Mr Crase is also seen in the fray, holding on to the same protester on the ground before Mr Benalla grabs him.
Riot police do not appear to intervene.
Speaking to French radio on Thursday, activist Taha Bouhafs said that protesters had been "quietly settled" on the square before he recorded his video. "The man on the ground was harmless and begged Benalla to stop," Mr Bouhafs said. "There is no explanation for this outburst of violence."
A presidential spokesman said Mr Benalla had been given permission to attend the disturbance as an observer on his day off. Other photographs show him wearing a police armband.
The Élysée palace later revealed that Vincent Crase, who was seen with Mr Benalla at the scene, had been given the same permission to attend.
A reserve police officer, he started a private security company with Mr Banella, and French media report that the pair are close friends.
Mr Crase has been suspended by En Marche.
Who is Alexandre Benalla?
Mr Benalla's main duty is to arrange security for the president's engagements.
Before he joined the presidential staff he had the role of head of security during Mr Macron's election campaign in 2017.
Image copyright EPA Image caption Mr Macron and Mr Benalla in May 2017, when Mr Benalla was head of the candidate's security
In that role, he was a constant companion to the future president, and archive photographs show the two men together at many high-profile public events.
But Richard Ferrand, a senior member of Mr Macron's party, sought to downplay the importance of Mr Benalla's role.
"This is not a close aide, this is someone who was in charge particularly during the presidential campaign and then he joined the Elysée staff," he told French TV.
President Macron, asked if he had confidence in his bodyguard on Wednesday night, pointed to a member of his entourage. "My bodyguard's over there," he said.
Skip Twitter post by @arthurberdah
Report
End of Twitter post by @arthurberdah
Formerly an employee of a private security firm, Mr Benalla had worked with other French politicians in the past - including leading Socialist Martine Aubry and Mr Macron's predecessor in the Elysée, François Hollande.
In 2012, he was hired as a driver for Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg.
Mr Montebourg told Le Monde that Mr Benalla was fired for misconduct after causing a car accident in the minister's presence and wanting to flee the scene.
What has the reaction been?
Elysée palace spokesman Bruno Roger-Petit said Mr Benalla had been suspended for two weeks without pay from 4 to 19 May, a punishment described as the heaviest so far meted out to a head of mission working at the presidential office.
He had also been moved out of his role of organising security for the president's visits.
However, French TV reported that Mr Benalla had handled security for two key events this month, including the parade of the World Cup-winning France football team along the Champs-Elysées.
Paris prosecutors announced on Thursday they were opening a preliminary investigation into the alleged assault by Mr Benalla.
Possible charges include violence by a public official, pretending to be a policeman and the illegal use of police insignia.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb announced that an investigation into how police observers were supervised had been ordered - and to see if all rules had been followed in the case of Mr Benalla and Mr Crase.
Prime Minister Edouard Phillippe added his voice to the widespread criticism, calling the incident "particularly shocking".
He said the behaviour "cast doubt on the integrity and exemplarity of our police" - but added the case "is now in the hands of justice" after prosecutors announced their preliminary investigation.
Related Topics
Share this story About sharing
