Interior minister faces grilling
The most damaging scandal of Emmanuel Macron's presidency deepened yesterday as his interior minister faces a grilling over his response to a top security aide caught on video striking a young man at a Paris protest in May.
Opposition lawmakers have demanded that Macron, who has so far remained silent about the incident, explain the government's response after the videos of aide Alexandre Benalla emerged this week.
Benalla, 26, was initially suspended without pay but on Friday Macron fired his former security aide, who was taken into custody suspected of unlawfully receiving police surveillance footage in a bid to clear his name.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb has been heavily criticised over the affair, with some opposition lawmakers saying his job is on the line after press reports that he knew about Benalla's violence.
Collomb will be publicly questioned on Monday morning by the Law Commission of the National Assembly, the head of the lower house of parliament announced Saturday.
Also yesterday, three police officers were taken into custody suspected of providing the surveillance footage to Benalla.
That video, shot on a smartphone, showed Benalla wearing a riot police helmet and surrounded by officers, manhandling and striking a protester during a May 1 demonstration.
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