PARIS — The 4-year-old boy seemed to be suspended from a balcony. An adult standing on a nearby balcony seemed powerless to help. Disaster seemed the only possible outcome. Then, to the nimble rescue on the streets of Paris on Saturday evening, came a young man whom some French people have started to call the Spider-Man of the 18th, referring to the arrondissement of Paris where the episode unfolded. With a combination of grit, agility and muscle, the man hauled himself hand over hand from one balcony to another, springing from one parapet to grasp the next one up. A crowd that had gathered before he began his daring exploit urged him ever upward, according to onlookers’ video that was shared widely on social media. Finally, after scaling four balconies, the man reached the child and pulled him to safety. And suddenly, an act of individual courage and resourcefulness began to play into Europe’s fraught and polarized debate about outsiders, immigrants and refugees.<doc-sep>PARIS -- A young man from Mali is being praised as a hero after he scaled an apartment building to save a child dangling from a balcony. President Emmanuel Macron on Monday rewarded the young man's bravery with an offer of French citizenship and a job as a firefighter. "Bravo," Macron said to 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama during a meeting in a gilded room of the presidential Elysee Palace where Gassama also received a gold medal from the French state for "courage and devotion." Gassama climbed five stories up the apartment building, moving from balcony to balcony, and whisked a 4-year-old boy to safety on Saturday night as a crowd below screamed. His actions went viral on social media, where he was dubbed "Spider-Man." Gassama said he has authorization to stay legally in Italy, which is where he landed in Europe in 2014 after a more than a year in Libya and a trip across the Mediterranean Sea. He came to France in September to join his older brother, who has lived in France for decades. Dressed in tattered blue jeans and white shirt, the young man recounted for the president what took place after he and some friends saw a young child hanging from a fifth-floor balcony. "I ran. I crossed the street to save him," Gassama told Macron. He said he didn't think twice. "When I started to climb, it gave me courage to keep climbing." God "helped me," too, he said. "Thank God I saved him." French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with Mamoudou Gassama at the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris, May 28, 2018. THIBAULT CAMUS/AFP/Getty Gassama said he trembled with fear only after he had reached the boy, gotten him safely back over the balcony railing and taken him inside the apartment. The father of the child was detained overnight for alleged parental neglect, and is to appear in court in September. He left the child alone while he shopped, then lingered to play Pokemon Go, Prosecutor Francois Molins told BFM-TV. The whereabouts of the child's mother were unclear. "You saved a child. Without you, no one knows what would have become of him," the president said. "You need courage and the capability to do that." Macron offered to begin the naturalization process to make Gassama a French citizen and said, "Because this is an exceptional act ... we are obviously, today, going to regularize all your papers." Quel courage .. bravo à ce jeune du 18eme pour cet acte héroïque 👏🏼 Posted by Habib Bibou on Saturday, May 26, 2018 Macron is behind a bill toughening French immigration law, and he stressed there is no contradiction between rewarding Gassama for his act of bravery and working to prevent migrants from entering France illegally by stopping the stream of arrivals at its source. "An exceptional act does not make policy," he told reporters later, vowing to maintain a policy that is "exigent, respectful of our principles" on asylum and "rigorous" regarding the migratory flux. The special treatment for Gassama comes as authorities prepare to evacuate some 2,400 migrants from makeshift encampments in the French capital. The forced closure of the encampments is the subject of a heated debate between the Paris mayor, who wants to ensure the uprooted will be sheltered, and Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, who was present Monday at the Elysee. Gassama told Macron he was arrested and beaten during his long rough stay in Libya, "but I wasn't discouraged." The French president said Gassama's actions made him deserving of special treatment. Working as a firefighter corresponds with his skills, said Macron, who opened the door for him to do just that. "You have become an example because millions have seen you" on social media, the president said. Another Malien, Lassana Bathily, was given French citizenship in January 2015, shortly after he saved lives by hiding people in a freezer and alerting police during a terror attack on a Jewish grocery where he worked.<doc-sep>She referred to him as the "Spiderman of the 18th", referring to the Paris district where the rescue took place, calling him an "example for all citizens".<doc-sep>Mamoudou Gassama, the 22-year-old Malian "Spiderman" feted for saving a child hanging from a balcony, took his first step toward French citizenship Tuesday and joined the fire brigade as accolades continued to pour in over his daring rescue. Video footage of Gassama scaling four storys of the building with his bare hands has catapulted the young man to global fame, and earned him the promise of citizenship from President Emmanuel Macron. Wearing white sweatpants and a black cap, the hero of a rescue video viewed by millions of people appeared slightly overwhelmed by the media furore as he filed his application for legal residency in the Paris suburb of Bobigny. Hailing the bravery of the youth who had been living in France illegally, the head of the local authority, Pierre-Andre Durand said: "How can anyone fail to be impressed by what he did, not admire it? "He helped someone in danger, which is not such a common thing in our society." Gassama became an overnight sensation after the video of him plucking a four-year-old boy to safety Saturday went viral. On Monday he was honored by President Emmanuel Macron with a medal for bravery, the promise of citizenship and the offer of a job with the fire service. Gassama arrived in France via Italy and the perilous Mediterranean migrant route. His official permit allowing him to work will arrive within a month, and his citizenship papers in about three months, officials said Tuesday. The athletic Malian also visited a fire station to sign up for a 10-month internship with the Paris fire and rescue services, expected to pay close to 600 euros ($690) a month. - 'Could have been worse' - The family of the young boy he saved thanked him Tuesday for his quick thinking. The boy's paternal grandmother, who like his mother lives in Reunion, told RMC radio Tuesday that she was "very moved" by the images of the rescue and sent "huge thanks" to Gassama. "He's really a hero," she said. "He did not stand by and watch, he saved my little sweet pea." The boy's father, who had been living alone with him in Paris, had left him alone to go out to the shops and then remained on the street to play Pokemon Go, according to French investigators. He was arrested on charges of neglecting his parental duties but released again on Monday. The Paris prosecutor's office said he had admitted his guilt and expressed "profound regret". The boy's mother learned the news of the rescue on Reunion Island -- the French Indian Ocean territory where she and the father were born and where she still lives. Reacting to Gassama's intervention on Antenne Reunion radio she said: "We can only thank him and thank heaven he was so reactive." "Things could have turned out much worse so I am relieved," she said, adding that she was impatient to be reunited with her son and husband. - 'Hypocrisy' - Gassama told Macron during a visit on Monday that he "did not think twice" before springing into action. Lawmakers are debating a controversial bill that would speed up the deportation of economic migrants and failed asylum-seekers, thousands of whom live in squalid camps in the capital. "There's a bit of hypocrisy or cynicism," added Claire Rodier of the GISTI association which supports immigrants. She saw a contrast between the treatment of Gassama and "the repressive policy of this government against migrants and those without documents."<doc-sep>
This is What’s Trending Today… He has been called “France’s Spiderman” by the media. And to French President Emmanuel Macron, he is a “hero.” His name, though, is Mamoudou Gassama. He is a 22-year-old undocumented migrant from Mali. He arrived in Europe in 2014 and came to France last September. On Saturday evening, Gassama was in a Paris neighborhood with his girlfriend. He noticed a crowd of people gathered on a street. He looked up from the crowd and saw a small, young child hanging high above from a building. Gassama immediately crossed the street and, “without thinking twice,” he said, he began climbing up the building. He moved from balcony to balcony. Then, he quickly and expertly pulled the child to safety. The child, a four-year-old boy, had been left unattended by his father. The crowd below screamed and cheered. Some took videos of the rescue, which they then put on social media. Many of those videos went viral. Soon, Gassama’s actions were known around the world. Gassama showed no fear as he climbed. Yet, he told the VOA Bambara service, after the rescue, “I was shaking and couldn’t stand on my feet. I was so shaken by what I did.” On Monday, Gassama was invited to meet with Macron. He told the French leader about the rescue. He also told him about his own path to Europe. Gassama left Mali as a teenager, crossed the Sahara Desert and made it to Libya. From there, he tried to take a boat to Italy. The first time, he said, authorities caught and jailed him before sending him to Niger. He tried one more time. This time, he made it to Italy. He left Italy for France last year to join his older brother, who already lived in Paris. Macron told Gassama, “Because this is an exceptional act...we are obviously, today, going to regularize all your papers.” The president also said he would offer Gassama French citizenship and a job as a firefighter. The special treatment for Gassama comes as France is preparing to remove about 2,400 migrants from temporary camps in Paris. The forced closure of the camps has led to a heated debate between city leaders and national politicians. Another Malien, Lassana Bathily, was given French citizenship in 2015. He saved lives by hiding people in a freezer during a terror attack on a Jewish food store where he worked. And that’s What’s Trending Today… I’m Ashley Thompson. Ashley Thompson wrote this story based on Associated Press reports and an interview by the Voice of America's Bambara service. Hai Do was the editor. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story balcony - n. a raised platform that is connected to the side of a building and surrounded by a low wall or railing authorities - n.​people who have power to make decisions and enforce rules and laws​ exceptional - adj.​ not usual : unusual or uncommon​ regularize - v.​ to make (something, such as a situation) regular, legal, or officially accepted​