MIGRANT CLIMBED FOUR STORIES TO SAVE CHILD, GOT CITIZENSHIP
Mamoudou Gassama, a Malian migrant, scaled four stories of a Paris building to save a dangling child, and France made him a citizen.
A government decree published on September 12, 2018, made Gassama, 22, a French citizen, ABC News reported. It came months after he pulled a child off a Paris balcony in a rescue caught on video. The decree was signed by Prime Minister Édouard Philippe.
The decree praised the rescue directly. “His act of great bravery exemplifies the values which help unite our national community, such as courage, selflessness, altruism and taking care of the most vulnerable,” it said.
How the rescue unfolded
On May 26, 2018, Gassama was watching a soccer match at a Paris restaurant when he heard people screaming and cars honking.
He went toward the noise and saw a child hanging from a balcony. The child was four years old.
Gassama climbed the outside of the building and hauled the child to safety. Emergency services arrived after he had already done it.
“I did it because it was a child,” Gassama told Le Parisien. He also said: “I climbed … thank God I saved him.”
The footage went viral on social media, and Gassama was widely hailed as a hero. The child’s family thanked him and called him a “true hero,” ABC Australia reported.
What happened next
A few days after the rescue, Gassama met President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace. Macron called him a “hero,” Voice of America reported.
“Because this is an exceptional act…we are obviously, today, going to regularize all your papers,” Macron told him.
The president also offered Gassama a path to French citizenship and a job with the fire service. “I have also invited him to apply for naturalization. Because France is a state of mind, and Mr Gassama has shown with determination that he has it!” Macron said, Deutsche Welle reported.
Gassama also received a medal and a certificate for bravery at the meeting, CNN reported.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the city would support Gassama as he sought to settle in France, SBS reported, citing Reuters.
The Paris Fire Brigade posted its own welcome. “Mamoudou embodies values of Paris fire. We prepared to welcome him,” it tweeted.
ABC reported that Gassama had entered France illegally in September 2017. It also reported that he began a 10-month internship with the Paris fire brigade in July 2018.
CNN reported that he started a position with the brigade on July 1, 2018, as confirmed by his press representative, Djeneba Keita.
Wikipedia said Gassama could not continue with the fire brigade because he lacked France’s lower-secondary school certificate and had a medical condition that made him ineligible to serve as a firefighter. It said he later alternated between unemployment and precarious work.
