An assistant Macron detained after the film shows him an activist

Paris investigators arrested on Friday for interviewing one of President Emmanuel Macron's senior security officials, who was filmed last May, following the biggest political crisis that hit the president since his death. input function.

The presidential palace of the Elysee takes measures to dismiss Alexandre Benalla, identified earlier in the week by the newspaper Le Monde for having beaten a young demonstrator during demonstrations on May 1 wearing a police helmet. A second man is also facing potential charges of involvement in the incident.

Macron, who has promised an exemplary presidency, has not yet responded.

The storm sparked a passionate debate in the French Parliament on why it took 2 and a half months to inform the judicial authorities and why Benalla remained in his post. Questions were also raised as to whether there had been official concealment and whether Elysee employees have some impunity with respect to others.

A parliamentary inquiry committee is in place and began its work on Friday

"It's an illusion to think that we can cover ourselves when we live in a democratic country" said the MP and leader of the far left Jean-Luc. Mélenchon told reporters. "In the end, everything is known."

France was seized by the video of the May 1 event in Paris showing Benalla, in a helmet carrying police marks and surrounded by riot police, brutally dragging a woman and then beating a young man on the floor. The man is heard begging him to stop. Another plainclothes man had pulled the young man to the ground.

The police, who had ripped the man out of the crowd before Benalla took over, did not intervene. Benalla then left the premises. The second man was apparently a gendarme on the reserves who, according to Le Monde, had worked with Benalla in the past.

Authorities began to control the damage soon after Le Monde identified Benalla in the video. his report Wednesday night.

. The presidential palace warned the judicial authorities Thursday of the violence scene and clumsily explained that the Elysée had suspended Benalla in May for two weeks and had given him an office job. The spokesman also said that Benalla had been allowed to follow police operations during his May Day leave "as an observer".

A judicial official said Friday that Benalla is being interrogated on a series of charges. Among them, violence committed in a group by a person with a public service mission and abusing police badges. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigation, which was launched Thursday. The second man, a gendarme on the reserves, who had worked with Benalla in the past, was detained a few hours later on Friday.

On Friday, the president's office began a dismissal of Benalla. that he got to help prove his innocence, said a Elysee official.

In connection with this, the Interior Minister announced Friday the suspension of three high-ranking police officers for allegedly handing the images to the chief of security. Le Monde declared that the official images showed the violent scene of May.

Despite his official change of office, Benalla was seen this month on the ground with the police during several important events, including the return of French football. Winning World Cup team, an event attended by hundreds of thousands of people.