Macron Orders Office Reorganization Over Bodyguard Assault Scandal

Alexandre Benalla, a high ranking security officer for the French president Emmanuel Macron, has been officially put under investigation after a video emerged of him beating a protester on May Day rally. He has been charged with group violence and illegally wearing a police badge.
In the footage, he can be seen dragging a woman away from a protest and later beating a male demonstrator. On Friday, French media released a second video which showed Benalla also manhandling the woman.
The president said “the behaviour of Alexandre Benalla on May Day was unacceptable, shocking, and that he could not allow the idea that someone in his entourage can be above the law”.
The bodyguard, Alexandre Benalla, was placed under investigation July 22 in a case that has sparked a political storm and brought the sharpest criticism Macron has faced since taking power.
Macron fired Benalla, the head of his personal security detail, on Friday but faced criticism for failing to act sooner. Benalla had initially been suspended for 15 days before being allowed to return to work.
An official said Mr Macron had described the incident as “unacceptable” and promised there would be “no impunity”.
Macron asked the secretary-general of the presidency, Alexis Kohler, to work on a reorganisation of his private office to prevent this happening again, the source said.
Lawmakers have launched a parliamentary inquiry into the incident, the lenient initial punishment and the failure of the authorities to report Benalla promptly to the judiciary.
Critics of Macron said the incident reinforced perceptions of a lofty, out-of-touch president, following controversies over government spending on official crockery, a swimming pool built at a presidential retreat, and cutting remarks by the president about the costs of welfare.
>Juthy Saha