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This is Emmanuel Macron’s most senior security chief— in full riot police gear beating up an anti-government protester.

Now Alexandre Benalla faces criminal action over the attack on two demonstrators in Paris, which was captured on an astonishing video.

Prosecutors in the city today confirmed they had opened a criminal inquiry, following complaints by numerous witnesses. A spokesman said Mr Macron’s deputy chief of staff faced the possibility of charges for “violence by a person in a public service position”, and impersonating a police officer.

Opponents of the president accused him of trying to cover up the attacks and called for Benalla to be jailed.

But Mr Macron today appeared to be sticking by Benalla, who helped organise World Cup celebrations at the Elysée Palace on Monday.

A Government spokesman said he had already been suspended for 15 days without pay, and was now confined to duties “within the Elysée”.

The footage is from a Paris demonstration on May 1, a traditional day of street action that this year saw hundreds of thousands campaigning against Mr Macron’s employment reforms.

It shows Benella putting on a police helmet, despite not being authorised to do so.

He first grabs a young woman by the neck then turns his attention to a bearded Left-wing activist who has been apprehended by gendarmes. He pulls the man away from the police and slaps him around the head.

When other demonstrators start shouting at Benalla, he looks scared of being identified behind his visor, and slinks off to a café.

MP Alexis Corbière, spokesman for former Left-wing presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said he had “asked for penal sanctions” against a “colleague of Macron who disguised himself as a police officer to commit violence”.

According to Le Monde there are more incriminating videos to go with the ones on the internet. Benalla did not comment.

Government spokesman Bruno Roger-Petit said Benalla was a reservist constable who “asked for permission” to join gendarmes at the protest. “He largely exceeded” the limits of his role and “dismissal for 15 days with deduction of wages”, followed, Mr Petit said.

Benalla, who is in his mid-thirties, grew up in Evreux, Normandy, and studied law before doing VIP protection work. He started working directly with Mr Macron in 2016, building a reputation as an uncompromising security chief.