French security chief Alexandre Benalla patrols as a policeman during clashes with activists on the sidelines of the May Day rally in Paris. Photo / AP
French security chief Alexandre Benalla patrols as a policeman during clashes with activists on the sidelines of the May Day rally in Paris. Photo / AP
A former senior aide to Emmanuel Macron appeared before a judge yesterday accused of assaulting protesters in an incident that has thrown the French presidency into turmoil.
Parliament was forced to suspend debate on a constitutional reform bill as MPs accused the Government of a cover-up over Alexandre Benalla, a high-ranking security official said to be part of Macron's inner circle before his sacking. French authorities opened a judicial investigation of the assault.
Benalla had to call off his wedding at the weekend as detectives questioned him over the alleged assault during a May Day protest in Paris.
In court, prosecutors urged the investigating judge to charge Benalla with violence by a public official, impersonating a police officer and illegally obtaining surveillance video.
Vincent Crase, a bodyguard who is employed by Macron's party, was also summoned to face similar accusations, with three police officers who are alleged to have helped Benalla to illegally recover CCTV footage of the incident.
Prosecutors asked the judge for Benalla and Crase to be barred from working in any public function or possessing weapons.
The judge handed preliminary charges to Benalla. The multiple alleged offenses included violence, interfering in the exercise of public office and the unauthorised public display of official insignia. Crase was handed preliminary charges of violence and prohibited possession of a weapon.
Benalla was suspended for two weeks after the alleged assault.
But he was only sacked late last week, two days after the newspaper Le Monde published mobile phone footage showing him wearing a police helmet and armband as he hit a man and attempted to push a woman to the ground.
Police at the scene were seen watching without intervening.
A man identified as Alexandre Benalla, right, confronts a student during the May Day demonstration. Photo / AP
Suspicions of an attempted cover-up were fuelled by what appeared to be inconsistent answers given by staff in Macron's office.
They said that Benalla had been moved to administrative duties instead of security.
But photographs emerged at the weekend showing him at the President's side, apparently guarding him, on Bastille Day last week. Gérard Collomb, the Interior Minister, is facing calls to resign and will appear before a parliamentary committee of inquiry tonight NZT.
Macron is under mounting pressure to comment.
Benalla, 26, who earned more than £100,000 a year, was this month given a grace-and-favour apartment in a riverside mansion where former President François Mitterrand once housed his mistress and their daughter.
Emmanuel Macron flanked by his bodyguard, Alexandre Benalla, in March. Photo / AP file
A reserve gendarme holding the rank of lieutenant-colonel, he accompanied security forces at the May Day demonstration as an observer.
He is reported to have told investigators that the police officer liaising with him provided him with an armband, a helmet and a police radio.
It has emerged that Benalla, a law graduate, told friends that he dreamed of being a security consultant to showbusiness stars.
