International
France makes Malian 'hero' legal for saving child
France makes Malian 'hero' legal for saving child
May 28, 2018 | 06:17 PM
* "This is an exceptional act", says Macron
* Man called Spider-Man by onlookers, press* Toddler's father detained after incident - BFM France will give residence papers to an illegal immigrant from Mali who scaled the facade of a Paris apartment block to save a boy who was about to fall from a fourth-floor balcony, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.Video shows Mamoudou Gassama, 22, risking his life on Sunday as he climbed up the balconies to rescue the four-year-old who is clinging to a railing and glancing at the ground below, while horrified onlookers watched.The video went viral and Gassama, who has been nicknamed "Spider-Man" for reaching the boy in time, was swiftly granted a meeting at the Elysee Palace."I did it because it was a child," French newspaper Le Parisien quoted Gassama as saying. "I climbed .... Thank God I saved him."Macron congratulated Gassama for "an exceptional act" and said France would give him a job in the emergency services."We'll obviously be setting all your papers straight and if you wish it, we will start the process of naturalisation so that you can become French," he added.
May 28, 2018 | 06:17 PM