Government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said: “A bag of guns did indeed remain at the Elysée. It’s true it was left behind, it’s true it was considered a serious fault on the part of the officer in charge and so his division commander fired him upon his return,” she said.
But she denied the president’s entire protection unit was unarmed during the trip, saying the bodyguards carried “replacement guns”.
Ironically, before the incident, Mr Hollande’s bodyguards had complained to French media that he was making their life hell by wanting to remain at all costs a “normal” president close to the people, even if that meant compromising his own security.
They were unhappy with his snap decision to take the train to a recent Brussels summit and return to Paris by car, insisting on stopping at all traffic lights. His penchant for shaking hands and posing with well wishers had them in a cold sweat, it was reported.
“He hasn’t taken the measure of the weight of constraints of a head of state,” one told Le Parisien. “If he continues like that, we’re heading for a catastrophe.”
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