Events: Due to the case to whip employee pressure on Macron

Stand: 15:09 | Reading time: 3 minutes

I In the case of beatings of an employee of the French presidential office against protesters, pressure on President Emmanuel Macron is increasing. The opposition parties asked for clarification of the incidents on Saturday. While Interior Minister Gérard Collomb is to be heard in Parliament on Monday morning, the president remains silent. The custody of security guard Alexander Benalla has been extended.

The scandal began this week with the release of several videos of the newspaper Le Monde. It shows how Benalla, 26, strikes violently and beats participants at a rally on May 1 in Paris. He was wearing a police helmet, although he was not a policeman. According to the government, he was allowed to "observe police operations".

On Friday, police seized Benalla and Saturday morning searched his home. The prosecution accuses him, among other things, as a public official used violence and spent as a police officer. An employee of Macro's ruling Republic of Macro, Vincent Crase, was also taken into custody because he allegedly overstepped his skills during protests.

In addition, three police officers were arrested and then arrested as part of the investigation. They would have obtained videos of Benalla from surveillance cameras of the city of Paris. Two of them are senior police officers from Paris

According to the police prefecture, the video surveillance images of the May Day demonstrations "were illegally transmitted to third parties on the evening of July 18th" – at the time where "The World" revealed the incident. Interior Minister, Collomb, strongly condemned the behavior of police

Collomb must be questioned Monday at the Committee on Legal Affairs of the National Assembly. The hearing will be public and broadcast, said Committee Chair Yael Braun-Pivet. Opposition members called for the resignation of Collomb when he was aware of the incident and did nothing.

At the general's office, the Benalla attack went public the day after the demonstration. According to the presidency, in May he was suspended without pay for two weeks and transferred to the administration. Who exactly knew of the incident, initially remained unclear. Benalla would have been back in action since then. It is only Friday that the presidential office announced his release.

Laurent Wauquiez, leader of the conservative opposition party Les Républicains, sees it as an "attempt to conceal a state affair behind a very late release procedure." Conservatives, right-wing populists and leftists in parliament demanded hearings from other senior government officials. Macron's chief of staff, Patrick Strzoda, was questioned Thursday by investigators

Macron himself, who has not yet commented on the situation, is under enormous pressure. Benalla "will have to answer the court, but Emmanuel Macron will have to answer the French," said opposition leader Wauquiez, the newspaper "Le Figaro".

Macron had announced that he would bring morality and transparency to France's scandalous policy. Benalla was responsible for Macron's security during the presidential campaign last year and worked at the Elysee after his election.