Benalla Affair: “A Tempest in a Teapot?”
On July, 18, the newspaper Le Monde identified Alexandre Benalla in a video as the person who grabbed a young protester by the neck and hit him during the 2018 demonstrations in Paris while impersonating a police officer. At the age of 26, Alexandre Benalla is close to French President Emmanuel Macron and served as a security officer and Deputy Chief of Staff to him.
On July, 19 the Paris Prosecutor announced that it had opened a preliminary investigation into incidents of "violence, usurpation of the functions of a police officer and using insignia reserved for public authorities."
On July, 25, one week after the beginning of the high-profile media case, the French President said in a video leaked to the media that “If they want to hold someone responsible, he is standing before you, they can come and get him”. Benoît Hamon, Generation.s Party leader claimed that Macron was acting like a child while he should "act like a president." He added “Macron knows the Constitution is protecting him and he will not have to face the people’s verdict before the 2022 presidential elections.”
However, IFOP (one of the biggest institutes specialized in public opinion surveys) polls gave him the weakest level of popularity (37% having a favorable opinion) suggesting that the case did not have huge consequences (only 4% decrease) but totally trumps the football world cup victory.
On July, 27, another newspaper revealed that Benalla appears in a video shot 3 hours before the first. A demonstrator says to the newspaper that she was pushed against the wall and her phone confiscated in order to delete the pictures she took.
On July, 29, Benalla spoke to JDD newspaper about the affair claiming conspiracy. He says he was the “weak link one uses to harm our President”. He argues that because he lacks the traditional background for the job, he has faced strong opposition from the Interior Ministry since he served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the French President. “In the spheres of power, people slotted into a mould are liked, but I tend to put out my oar, and now I'm paying for it”, he adds.
For some, the Benalla case is nothing if not a State scandal, for others, it is nothing more than a Summer Scandal. While there is no doubt that Benalla made a mistake, people and politicians are divided about the scale of it. In an interview to Le Monde, Philippe Raynaud, Political Sciences Teacher said that “a state scandal is when government officials are accused of engaging in illegal, corrupt, or unethical practices (…) this is not the case here: nobody asked Benalla to behave like Rambo at the demonstration.” For him, this is a political crisis in France, but nothing more.
Today, 5 high officials will be heard on it.
By Antoine Dewaest
Photo: PHILIPPE WOJAZER
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