San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Home of fired security aide raided as political crisis grows for Macron
PARIS — Investigators on Saturday raided the house of one of French President Emmanuel Macron’s top security aides, who was caught on camera beating a protester in May, prosecutors said.
The presidential Elysee Palace fired Alexandre Benalla a day before police raided his home in the Parisian suburb of IssyLes-Moulineaux. Benalla was identified earlier last week by the Le Monde newspaper as the man who beat a young protester during May Day rallies while wearing a police helmet. He and a second man are facing potential charges.
Benalla’s involvement in the beating is turning into Macron’s biggest crisis since he took office last year. The belated referral of the issue to judicial authorities and what was widely viewed as insufficient action at the time by the Elysee Palace caused a firestorm from the opposition.
Regular parliamentary work has been stalled by questions about why it took 2½ months to inform judicial officials and why Benalla stayed in his post. Questions over whether there was an official hushup also have been raised, and whether Elysee employees have a measure of impunity not granted to others.
A parliamentary investigative committee is examining the matter.
The president’s spokesman said Thursday that Benalla had been authorized to follow police operations “as an observer” on May Day, his day off, and was suspended for two weeks in May and given a desk job as punishment.
France has been shocked by the video of the May 1 event in Paris showing Benalla, in a helmet with police markings and surrounded by riot police, brutally dragging away a woman from a demonstration and then beating a young man on the ground. The man is heard begging him to stop.
Elaine Ganley is an Associated Press writer.