Macron's confidante hits protesters (new-deutschland.de)

1. May France, Place de la Contrescarpe, in the fifth arrondissement of Paris. French police walk in their demonstration equipment together at a house. But among them is a man who stands out. Although the man has a police helmet on his head, he wears a hoodie and a cloth jacket for his black pants. Unusual for a police officer.

Otherwise, the man acts like the other officials – against the protesters. A video shows him abducting a young woman. He only lets her go when he sees that he needs it elsewhere: a few meters away from him, a man refuses to let himself be carried away by the police. The man wearing a hoodie runs to the protester and tears him from behind in a bag of sweat, holding him by the throat and mouth. When he tries to resist, he turns it over on his head

The spicy thing about it: As the Le Monde newspaper showed, the unusual policeman is actually not an official. Alexandre Benalla, a close badociate of the French President Emanuel Macron

The French prosecutor led a preliminary investigation Thursday on the security agent Benalla a. Among other things, the prosecutor accuses Benalla of using violence as a public servant and having spent his time as a police officer. The latter may be punished with one year 's imprisonment and a fine of 15,000 euros.

Benalla was responsible for the security of Macron during the French presidential campaign last year and since May 2017, he works at the Elysee. The reservist of the gendarmerie had previously worked for former president Francois Hollande, but had been suspended for "misconduct".

Internally, the incident was already well known in the popular rue Mouffetard on the Left Bank, reports AFP. Benalla has been suspended for no more than two weeks, according to the presidency, and transferred to the administration instead of providing security for Macron's travels. On May 1, he was allowed "to observe police operations".

Meanwhile, the use of Brenalla becomes a domestic scandal. Interior Minister Gerard Collomb is scheduled to speak early next week in the Senate on the incident. The Legislative Committee also wishes to know the circumstances surrounding the deployment of Benalla during this year's Paris demonstration on 1 May. Among other things, the police's possible cooperation with Benalla, who is not a police officer, but formerly private bodyguard, will be discussed here.

The Leader of the Left Party The unsubmissive France, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, demanded the opening of criminal proceedings, since all elements of a criminal offense are given. He welcomed the demand of the socialist opposition that Macron should speak in front of the National Assembly. Mélenchon also announced that he wanted to campaign in Parliament for a vote of no confidence in the government.

President Macron initially did not answer questions about the incident. On May 1, the president stayed in Australia. At that time, he condemned the violence in the protests in a tweet and announced that everything was done "so that those responsible can be identified and held responsible for their actions."

According to officials, another man served at The demonstrations of May 1st exceeded his skills. A spokesman for the government said cooperation with this ruling party employee The Republic in March had ended.

The BFM reported that Benalla had been reinstated as a security guard this week at the Champs Elysees parade. the French national team after their victory at the World Cup in Russia. / with Afp