'Spiderman of Paris' receives naturalisation papers
Mamoudou Gassama attends ceremony with 59 other naturalised French citizens, less than six months after he climbed the outside of a building to save a four-year-old child
The man who climbed the outside of a building to save a four-year-old child dangling off a fourth-floor balcony has received his naturalisation decree at a ceremony.
Mamoudou Gassama, who was dubbed the 'Spiderman of Paris' at the time of the rescue, received the document on Tuesday at the ceremony alongside 59 other naturalised citizens at the prefecture of Seine-Saint-Denis in Bobigny, five-and-a-half months after his heroic act and little more than a year after he had arrived in France.
He had been living in the country since September 2017, six years after he left his birth nation, Mali. He had spent some time in Libya, and three years in Italy after successfully crossing the Mediterranean at the second attempt.
Mr Gassama arrived in France in September 2017, six years after leaving Mali, after several years in Libya, two attempts to cross the Mediterranean and three years in Italy. The 22-year-old man was due to start training with the Paris fire brigade in November: Le Monde explains that he should start a ten-month civic service there next January.
It was the last symbolic step on his route to French citizenship. Confirmation that he was to receive the document had been published in the Journal Officiel on September 12.
Mr Gassama will now begin training with the Paris fire brigade, before becoming a volunteer firefighter on a 10-month civil service programme in January.
The Malian ambassador was present at the ceremony, reported Le Monde.
