Macron's chief assistant under investigation for beating May 1st protesters



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Video footage of the protest shows that Alexandre Benalla raised a protester by the neck and covered his mouth before punching him on the head

Benalla was invited to observe the demonstrations at sides of the French riot police. Government Minister Julien Denormandie called Benalla's behavior "unacceptable" on Thursday

Inter-French radio interviewer Denormandie said: "He was invited as an observer and his behavior was unacceptable. "

A spokesman for the Elysee told CNN that Benalla had been suspended for a fortnight and that she would no longer be part of Macron's security service. also stated that 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 on French radio SUD Thursday, Bouhafs said that the demonstration, which was held in the Latin Quarter of the capital, the atmosphere "friendly" of a violent atmosphere after the police anti-ed pack used tear gas on the crowd and started beating people with batons.

Bouhafs said that he had seen Benalla at various times during the demonstration wearing a police armband and assumed that he was a police officer or a member of the special security forces. "I never thought that he was someone who worked with Emmanuel Macron," Bouhafs said.

When the 21-year-old saw Benalla catch a woman by the neck and attack an already "neutralized" protester, he decided "He was very aggressive, there was no reason for this violence. , the man was not dangerous, he was on the floor and he begged him to stop, everyone around me, including me, asked Alexandre Benalla to stop I said, "Stop! Stop!" Then he stopped and I got closer and I filmed his face and said, "Look this face, he has did that, and then he escaped. "

  Alexandre Benalla (right) with Macron during the campaign trial last March.

Macron has not yet approached the incident, avoiding a media question at a meeting at which he attended Thursday in the Dordogne region.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left France Unbowed Party describes the event as "a case of exceptional gravity."

"If we allow anyone to pretend to be a police officer alongside the police, then we Mr. Melenchon told reporters in front of the National Assembly on Thursday

" Why do we have a preliminary inquiry? "Mélenchon added. "All the elements are there to indicate an offense."

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