[Cross-posted from European Tribune – where dissent is NOT troll rated!]
Mamoudou Gassama: Mali ‘Spiderman’ scales four floors to rescue child from Paris balcony
After seeing the child was in danger, it took Mamoudou Gassama, 22, less than a minute to scale the outside of the building and haul the boy over the balcony to safety.
Gassama told Le Parisien he was watching a football match at a nearby restaurant with friends when he heard a commotion.
“We saw a lot of people screaming, honking, so, I crossed the road to save him,” he said.
Gassama did not think twice about scaling the building, telling BFM Paris: “Thank god, I saved him.”
Continue below the fold …
Paris hero dubbed ‘Muslim Spiderman’ after saving child dangling from balcony
This man did not hesitate a second, risked his life and saved the kid! #truehero #spiderman #paris 👏 pic.twitter.com/u1fvid3i1j
— Fred (@FredBC77) May 27, 2018
Un grand bravo à Mamoudou Gassama pour son acte de bravoure qui a permis de sauver hier soir la vie d'un enfant. J'ai eu plaisir à m'entretenir avec lui aujourd'hui par téléphone, afin de le remercier chaleureusement. https://t.co/DP5vQ1VZYh
— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) May 27, 2018
[Update-1]
○ ‘Hero’ Malian who rescued child to be given French citizenship, says Macron
New French immigration bill provokes backlash | DW |
France’s cabinet this week okayed a draft immigration law that will go through parliament in the coming months. Migrants would in the future have less time to apply for asylum and appeal against rejections. The government would have the right to hold them in detention centers pending deportation for more than twice as long. Paris aims for the whole asylum process to only take six months instead of the current 14. The bill would also criminalize illegal border crossings, imposing a fine of up to €3,750 ($4,610) or a one-year jail term.
For many migrants, the new law is one more reason to distrust the government.
Ibrahim from Senegal (photo above, left) is one of them. His parents were killed by independence fighters in the southern region of Casamance. So early last year, he went on a dangerous months-long journey through Mali, Niger and Libya to start a new life.
But so far, France hasn’t been the safe haven the 20-year-old was hoping to find.
Several months on from his arrival, Ibrahim is still living in a tent under a drafty bridge in northern Paris. Dozens of migrants have set up camp here, on both sides of the Canal Saint-Denis. The ground is littered with trash and rats run to and fro between the tents. The migrants call it the “Hotel of the 18th Arrondissement.”
And they are not only having to face icy winds and freezing temperatures.
“The police often come here to tear-gas us,” he told DW. “There was a time when they showed up almost every day. Sometimes they tear down our tents — just to cause mayhem.”
Crise des migrants : colère et désolation sur les rives du canal Saint-Martin https://t.co/oysz122fuG via @le_figaro
— Emmanuel Galiero (@EGaliero) May 11, 2018
