A video showing one of French President Emmanuel Macron’s security chiefs beating a student demonstrator in May, until now cloaked in secrecy, is drawing a fierce public backlash over what is seen as mild punishment — a two-week suspension and a change in responsibilities.
The growing uproar forced Macron’s spokesman to address the issue yesterday, more than two and a half months after the event. Condemning the “unacceptable behavior,” Bruno Roger-Petit said that Alexandre Benalla was also removed from his responsibilities of organizing security for presidential trips — though he maintains his office at the Elysee Palace.
The video of the May 1 event in Paris, revealed by the newspaper Le Monde, shows Benalla in a helmet with police markings, and surrounded by riot police, brutally dragging off a woman from a demonstration and then repeatedly beating a young man on the ground.
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