Paris (AFP)
What was Alexandre Benalla doing on the May 1, 2018 demonstration?
The court looked at Wednesday in Paris on the status of "observer" of the Elysee mission manager and his sidekick Vincent Crase, in particular on trial for having committed violence that day.
"I suggest that you participate in the field in the service with one of the intervention units as an observer, if your schedule allows it".
The text message, projected on the courtroom screen, was sent on March 28, 2018.
Its shipper, Laurent Simonin, is at the helm.
The tall man, shaved head and deep voice, was then a member of the General Staff of the Directorate of Public Order and Traffic (DOPC), at the Paris Police Prefecture.
At the time, he was familiar with Alexandre Benalla, he confirms, working regularly with him on the organization of travel for the Head of State.
It was after an eventful trip by Emmanuel Macron to Guyana that the young employee of the Elysée told him of his desire to attend a "demonstration that moves".
The two men discussed it for several months before Mr. Simonin proposed May 1, an event during which a substantial "black block" was expected.
In 2018, "there is no written rule" concerning "observers", summarizes Mr. Simonin.
"Each tutor sees a little midday at his door", will confirm Commissioner Maxence Creusat, also a member of the DOPC.
Worried about the safety of Alexandre Benalla, Laurent Simonin finally decides not to integrate him into an intervention unit and to have him accompanied by a "pilot fish", a 62-year-old major with "40 years of experience. ".
Alexandre Benalla Sabrina BLANCHARD AFP
He is provided with equipment, on which the versions diverge.
The project manager claims to have received, in a bag, a helmet, a gas mask, a fireproof suit with, scratched, the rank of captain, a belt, an armband and an acropolis radio.
The morning of the facts, "I took the helmet, the armband, the acropolis radio and I left the rest", assures Alexandre Benalla.
For him, this role of observer is then "perfectly clear: I just have to be passive and drowned among the police".
Moreover, he launches, "it goes very well at the beginning", before "it breaks out".
- "Tourist" -
In his messages read by the court, Laurent Simonin nevertheless asks Alexandre Benalla to warn the cabinet of the Elysee and that of the director of the DOPC.
It will inform the first, but not the second.
"For me, everyone was aware," argues, without being troubled, Alexandre Benalla, citing in particular a lunch shortly before with officials.
"It's an oversight, a mistake," he said.
Sketch of the hearing of Alexandre Benaalla during his trial, September 13, 2021 in Parisd Benoit PEYRUCQ AFP
Then the same morning, Alexandre Benalla offers his friend Vincent Crase, employee of the LREM party and reservist gendarme of the Elysee, to accompany him.
Without warning Mr. Simonin, underlines the president of the court.
"I arrived at the police headquarters and I saw that it did not pose a particular problem", justifies himself without hesitation Alexandre Benalla, "it happened naturally".
Vincent Crase did not warn his own hierarchy either.
"It didn't occur to me to call them," he says.
"Do you arrive a bit like a tourist in fact?", Summarizes the president Isabelle Prévost-Desprez.
"I was talking to you about the + transversality of the missions +, for me, it fell within this framework", tries the defendant.
The "observer" goes to the demonstration with a weapon and, on the spot, recovers a telescopic baton.
Like the day before, Vincent Crase invokes the "terrorist risk" and adds: "if we are potentially assimilated to the police, we can be targeted".
"But you are not a police officer, a gendarme, related to the police, you are an observer", insists the president.
"There you are, excuse me for the word, a working vase!"
"I was not told: + your role is strictly to observe +", recognizes Vincent Crase.
In fact, he was "told absolutely nothing" about his role that day, he admits.
Alexandre Benalla (c), helmets, and Vincent Crase (c, l) grab a protester, May 1, 2018 on the Place de la Contrescarpe in Paris Naguib-Michel SIDHOM AFP / Archives
The two men are notably on trial for brutalizing a couple in Place de la Contrescarpe and three demonstrators in the Jardin des Plantes - "arrests", according to them.
They are also appearing for wearing a police armband.
An armband threaded on the advice of a police officer, assures Alexandre Benalla: "after a charge of CRS, he said to me: + identify yourself!"
The trial continues until October 1.
© 2021 AFP