FRANCE: French police protested yesterday after Hannibal, the son of the Libyan leader, Muammar Gadafy, was allowed to go free after being clocked at more than 140 k.p.h. on the Champs-Élysées.
"This is a genuine scandal," said Mr Frederic Lagache of the biggest police union, Alliance, when it emerged that Mr Gadafy (28) had not been charged after he presented his diplomatic passport.
"The behaviour of people who represent their country should be exemplary and above reproach. There is a real problem here - diplomatic immunity should not mean that certain people simply become above the law," said Mr Lagache.
Mr Gadafy was pulled over in his Porsche at about 2.45 a.m. on Saturday, a police spokesman said. He had been caught driving down France's most famous avenue at more than three times the legal speed limit, jumping at least three red lights in the process.
A bodyguard travelling with Mr Gadafy tried to stop the officers questioning him, and two other cars, carrying six more guards, arrived on the scene "very quickly", a police spokesman said.
After police reinforcements arrived, "things got quite heated quite fast", the spokesman added. "There was a bit of a scuffle. One of the officers took a heavy punch; he's been given a doctor's certificate ordering him not to go back to work for four days."
Le Figaro newspaper quoted police as saying the interior of Mr Gadafy's car smelled of alcohol and the Libyan leader's son was "unable to speak coherently".
A €4,500 police radio transmitter was wrecked during the fight. Two bodyguards were arrested but released on Saturday morning after a visit from Mr Gadafy and officials from the Libyan embassy, who reportedly apologised for the incident.
One of the security men, who was not identified, is due to appear in court on October 15th, charged with causing bodily harm to a police officer.
Three years ago, Mr Gadafy was accused of attacking three Italian policemen with a fire extinguisher while on holiday in a luxury hotel in Rome. - (Guardian service)