Watch: real-life Spider-Man scrambles up four storeys to save boy dangling from Paris balcony
Malian migrant will be given French citizenship and a job in the fire brigade, President Macron confirms
A Malian migrant who saved a four-year-old child hanging from a fourth-floor Paris balcony after scaling the building with his bare hands was honoured by French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday and offered citizenship.
Two days after his daring Spiderman-style rescue – viewed millions of times online – Mamoudou Gassama was received by Macron at the presidential palace.
“All the [Gassama’s] documents will be put in order,” Macron told the sporty 22-year-old who has become a national hero, referring to his immigration status.
In the meeting, live footage of which was carried on the president’s Facebook page, Macron gave Gassama a medal for bravery and also proposed that Gassama join the French fire service.
“I was not thinking of anything. I went straight up,” Gassama, who wore jeans and a short-sleeved patterned shirt, told Macron, recounting the episode. “I’m pleased because it’s the first time I’ve received a trophy like that.”
Gassama leapt into action on Saturday evening on seeing a child dangling in mid-air from a balcony halfway up a flat block in the multi-ethnic 18th district of the French capital.
The video shows him pulling himself up from balcony to balcony as a man on the fourth floor tries to hold on to the child by leaning across from a neighbouring balcony.
On reaching the fourth floor, Gassama, who lives in a hostel for immigrants, throws one leg over the balcony before reaching out with his right arm and grabbing the child.