Rivals join Hollande for tribute to murdered policeman

Presidential rivals Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron will join President Hollande this morning in a memorial service for Xavier Jugelé, the policeman killed last Thursday in a terror attack on the Champs-Elysées.

The service at 11.00, will be in the courtyard of the Préfecture de Police in Paris where officer Jugelé, 37, will be promoted posthumously to the rank of captain and made a chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur.

At the same time, police unions have called on officers to gather for a commemoration service on the forecourt of Notre-Dame Cathedral, opposite the prefecture.

Two police officers and a German tourist were hurt in the attack in which the attacker was also killed.

The attack was claimed by Daesh/ISIS immediately afterwards and was seen as an attempt to affect the first round of the presidential elections. Mr Hollande invited the two winners of the election to accompany him to the memorial service.

Office Jugelé had been on duty at the Bataclan nightclub after the terror attack in November 2015 and was interviewed by a BBC TV crew months later as he went back to the club for its reopening

A strong supporter of gay rights, he told reporter Nick Garnett of the Bataclan: "I have been there many times with gay friends and I want to celebrate life and say 'no' to terrorism."

Officer Jugelé was due to leave the Paris branch of the police to join the Police Judiciaire international relations team as he spoke good English.