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PARIS – The most damaging scandal of Emmanuel Macron's presidency worsened Saturday with his interior minister in front of a parliament about his response to a senior official of Macron captured in video beating a young man
Opposition deputies demanded that Macron, who has hitherto remained silent about the incident, explain the government's position after videos of his assistant Alexandre Benalla emerged this week.
"If Macron does not explain the Benalla affair will become the Macron affair," said in a tweet the right-wing leader, Marine Le Pen
Laurent Wauquiez, the leader of the Republican party, accused the government of "trying to cover up a question of state" and Macron was to clarify the issue to the French
and the far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the France Unbowed party called it a scandal of Watergate's proportions and accused Macron of "organizing." Watergate was the name of a telephone tapping scandal that led to the resignation of former US president Richard Nixon in 1974.
Benalla, 26, was initially suspended without pay, but on Friday Macron returned his former security officer who was arrested on suspicion of illegally receiving police surveillance footage in an attempt to whitewash his name.
He faces a magistrate Sunday, according to Paris prosecutors. On the case, some opposition MPs say his job is on the line after press reports that he knew about Benalla's violence.
Collomb will be publicly questioned from 10am (0800 GMT) Monday morning by the National Assembly Law Commission, the leader of the lower house of parliament announced.
Also on Saturday, three police officers were detained on suspicion of providing surveillance footage to Benalla. They will also go before a magistrate on Sunday.
They were accused of "misappropriating images of a CCTV system", as well as a "violation of professional secrets," said the prosecution
. The same night, the newspaper Le Monde published the video that triggered the scandal.
This video, shot on a smartphone, showed that Benalla was wearing a watch. Riot police helmet surrounded officers, mistreating and hitting a protester at a demonstration on May 1
In a second video released Thursday by the newspaper, Benalla – who did not Never been a policeman – is also seen violently fighting a young woman on the ground during a clash on a square near Rue Mouffetard, a picturesque street in the fifth arrondissement, or administrative district.
The three senior officers placed in custody o the Public Order and Traffic Department of Paris, includes a deputy chief of staff and a commissioner of the 5th arrondissement, as well as the commander in charge of relations between the prefecture and the Elysee, said several sources close to the case. 1965-19002] The house of Benalla in the southwestern suburbs of Paris was attacked on Saturday.
Vincent Crase, a security assistant for Macron's party and a Benalla partner who also spoke at the May protest, was also arrested on Friday.
The Paris prosecutor's office said Saturday that the custody of Benalla and Crase had been extended by 24 hours.
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