Malian Refugee Hero Who Saved 4-yo Boy in Daring Rescue Granted French Citizenship
Local Editor
French President Emmanuel Macron offered the country's citizenship to an illegal Malian refugee who earlier risked his own life to rescue a 4-year-old child hanging from a fourth-floor balcony in Paris.
On Sunday, the 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama, originally from Mali, scaled the facade of a Paris apartment block without any equipment to save a boy clinging to railings and about to fall. His successful rescue was filmed by horrified onlookers, and the video soon went viral.
Recognizing the heroic act, Macron met with guy in person at the Elysee presidential palace on Monday, congratulating him on the "exceptional" move to save the French boy's life.
"We'll obviously be setting all your papers straight and if you wish it, we will start the process of naturalization so that you can become French," Macron told Gassama.
Macron also offered him a job.
"What you have done corresponds with what firefighters do; if this fits your wishes, you could join the firefighters' corps so that you can do [such acts] on a daily basis," he added.
Gassama arrived from Mali in France a few months earlier. He has been nicknamed the "Spider-Man" following the viral spread of his rescue footage.
"I did it because it was a child," Gassama told French newspaper Le Parisien. "I climbed... Thank God I saved him."
Meanwhile, the boy's father, who had reportedly left him alone at home, has been arrested and an investigation is underway to see if he committed a crime.
The Paris prosecutor, François Molins, said, "His behavior constitutes an offense, failing to honor parental responsibilities, which carries a possible sentence of two years in jail."
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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