Hero Of Kosher Grocery Siege Will Become A French Citizen

Citing Bathily’s “act of bravery,” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says France will expedite a citizenship application that Bathily filed last July. The minister will also head Bathily’s naturalization ceremony next Tuesday.

More than 300,000 people have signed an online petition calling for Bathily to be made a citizen — and for him to be awarded the Legion of Honor.

Like Amedy Coulibaly, the man who authorities say carried out the deadly attack in Paris, Bathily is a Muslim with ties to Mali. At first, the similarities between them led police to believe Bathily was the gunman. They handcuffed him for more than an hour. But as many have since learned, there was a wide gulf of difference between Bathily and Coulibaly.

As we reported Monday, Bathily, 24, escaped from the Hyper Casher grocery after taking quick action to help customers elude the violence that left several people dead.