Macron aide accused of beating protesters 'was not bodyguard'

Alexandre Benalla says his role for president was more like that of theatre director as he is quizzed by senate

Alexandre Benalla, the security official who sparked the biggest scandal of Emmanuel Macron's presidency when he was filmed illegally dressed as a police officer beating people on the edge of a demonstration, has told the French senate he wasn't the president's official bodyguard but was allowed to carry a handgun because he was concerned for his own safety.

Benalla, a civilian adviser who was close to Macron, sparked a major political scandal this summer when video footage emerged of him illegally dressed as a police officer, beating and kicking two people on the edge of a May Day protest in Paris.