'Spiderman' of Paris to become French citizen
After President personally thanks Mamoudou Gassama for his heroic rescue, it is revealed he will be given citizenship and will join fire service as a volunteer, with a view to joining permanently
Mamoudou Gassama, the Malian immigrant who was hailed a hero after scaling a building to save a child dangling from a fourth-storey balcony, is to become a French citizen.
As reported, Mr Gassame climbed up the outside of a building in Paris's 18th arrondissement on Saturday evening using his bare hands to save the four-year-old.
Footage of the rescue shows him pulling himself up the building from balcony to balcony as a man tries to hold on to the child.
After meeting Mr Gassama at the Élysée Palace on Monday morning, President Emmanuel Macron said he would be made a naturalised citizen. He will also join the sapeurs-pompiers as a volunteer firefighter on a 10-month contract.
A spokesman for the fire service said that Mr Gassama would be welcomed with open arms because "he already shares our values".
"We open our arms wide to him so that he can carry out this 10-month contract as a civic service volunteer, initially. Maybe then he will continue the adventure with us," the spokesman said.
The child involved in the incident has been taken into care, while his father has been taken into custody. The child's mother was not in Paris at the time.
