Greece’s former finance minister and current MP Yanis Varoufakis on Saturday accused French police of "violent" behaviour over a passport check at Paris' main airport.
“You are a disgrace to the French nation,” Varoufakis is heard yelling at a French Border Police officer in footage that was posted on YouTube.
The incident was filmed over the weekend at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport after Varoufakis claimed the officer who was checking passports at the exit ramp from an Athens flight pushed him.
“You are violent and you are rude. I don’t trust you… You are a problematic member of the police force, a disgrace to your nation,” Varoufakis can be heard saying as he stands against the wall. The officer tells the ex-finance minister to follow him, but he refuses. When another person asks why Varoufakis cannot leave, he says, “he does not let me!” pointing at the officer.
Varoufakis told AFP he had just landed at Charles de Gaulle airport on a flight from Athens when a police officer standing near the plane ramp asked to see his passport.
"(He) manhandled me, using physical violence," Varoufakis told AFP, adding that the officer pushed him, grabbed his passport and told him to stand against the wall.
Two more superior officers had to be summoned before Varoufakis' passport was returned.
"I am requesting a formal apology from the French police," he added.
Meanwhile, one of the officers said he also plans to lodge a complaint against Varoufakis.
*Watch the video here-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGgPK0QrNLk
*Source: AFP
