President Emmanuel Macron was this weekend mired the gravest crisis since he came to office little more than a year ago, after further revelations about the events when his personal security advisor physically assaulted May Day demonstrators while dressed as a police officer, and growing evidence that his extraordinary behaviour was covered up by the Élysée Palace and the interior ministry. Both Macron and his interior minister Gérard Collomb were reportedly made aware more than two months ago of the thuggish behaviour of the president’s personal security advisor Alexandre Benalla, who was only finally dismissed from his post on Friday when he was taken into police custody two days after the scandal was first revealed by the media.
After being brought into police custody on Friday, French presidential aide Alexandre Benalla continued to be questioned on Saturday as the scandal prompted by media revelations of video footage showing him beating up May Day demonstrators spread to what increasingly appears to be a high-level cover up of his thuggish behaviour and connivance by police officials, including those present at the scene of the assaults.
