An aide from French President Emmanuel Macron’s office has been identified in a video donning riot gear while lashing out at a protester during May Day pro-labor demonstrations in Paris, according to multiple reports.
Alexandre Benalla, who works with Macron’s chief of staff and has been involved with organizing security for the centrist president, was identified by French newspaper Le Monde in a recording by a student activist pushing a woman down a street before returning to drag a man away by the neck and hitting him on the head. He was wearing what looked like a police visor at the time of the incident before quickly leaving the scene after realizing he had been caught on film.
???? ALERTA VIOLENCES POLICIÈRES
DES POLICIERS TABASSENT ET GAZENT TOUT LE MONDE PLACE CONTREESCARPE !!
FAITES TOURNER IL FAUT QUE TOUT LE MONDE VOIT !!#ViolencesPolicieres #1erMai pic.twitter.com/Dabr6HHwyJ— Taha Bouhafs? (@T_Bouhafs) May 1, 2018
Elysee Palace spokesman Bruno Roger-Petit said Benalla had asked his superiors whether he could attend the protests to “observe” law enforcement on his day off, according to the BBC. He had been suspended for 15 days and stripped of any responsibilities related to security for president trips, Roger-Petit added. However, French TV channel BFM reported Benalla helped secure two key events in July, including a parade down the Champs-Elysees for the French team after winning the FIFA World Cup, per the Telegraph and the Guardian.
While Macron denied that Benalla’s actions had “tarnished” the country, public prosecutors in Paris are investigating whether to charge him with violence by a public official, pretending to be a police officer, and illegal use of police insignia, the New York Times reported. France’s interior minister, Gerard Collomb, said police were also opening an internal probe.
Macron has suffered from drops in his approval rating as he fights off criticism that he is “the president for the rich.”
