French 'Kung-Fu cop' decorated and promoted for response to car being torched by Paris activists

Kevin Philippy has been promoted from trainee to full police officer despite having just failed his exams

The driver of a police car torched by hard left activists in Paris last week has been decorated and promoted from trainee to full police officer – despite having just failed his exams.

Kevin Philippy, 28, was dubbed the “Kung fu cop” by French social media, after footage of the horrific attack showed him deftly evading blows from a masked assailant wielding an iron bar.

Mr Philippy, a probationary police officer, reached for his gun before deciding better of it and walking calmly away from the blazing car.

Bernard Cazeneuve announced Mr Philippy would be promoted to 'guardian of the peace' (Interior Ministry)

In a ceremony at the French interior ministry, attended by President François Hollande, he was given the “gold internal security medal”, the highest French police award. His companion in the traffic patrol car, Alison Barthélémy, received the same medal.

The interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, announced that Mr Philippy, would immediately be promoted to “guardian of the peace”, or full police officer, despite having recently failed his entrance exam.

“What made me extremely proud was your extreme self-control,” Mr Cazeneuve said. “(Here was) a police officer who was strong in his own personality and values not just strong because he had a gun.”

Mr Philippy, a tall, well-built, black man, who was still wearing a medical neck brace, said after the ceremony: “Many of my colleagues suffer far worse. They are the heroes, not me.”

The attack happened last Wednesday close to a demonstration called by police unions against what they called “la haine anti-flic” – anti-cop hatred. This followed a series of violent assaults on police officers by a fringe of hard-left and anarchist activists during demonstrations in the last two months against proposed reforms in French labour law.

A group of 300 hard left protestors were refused permission to hold a counter demonstration alleging police violence. A group of 15 of them surrounded a police traffic patrol car in a nearby street.

In a video which has been viewed 10 million times on the internet, several masked and hooded young men are seen attacking the car with iron bars and bollards torn from the pavement. A smoke bomb or Molotov cocktail is thrown through the smashed rear window of the car which catches fire.

Passers-by, or unmasked demonstators, help the two police officers from their vehicle. Mr Philippy is then seen being attacked by a masked man with an iron bar.

A cardboard sign was found nearby which read in French “Roast chicken going free”. Poulet or chicken is one of the French slang words for cop.

Four members of a militant anti-fascist group arrested on Friday have been accused of attempted murder and placed in detention. A fifth man has been released.

The four suspects, identified from the video and from police intelligence, include three students aged from 18 to 21, two of whom are brothers. The fourth is a 31 years trainee school assistant.

Three of the men were known to the authorities and had been subject to orders banning them from leaving home on Thursday during the police demonstration. The banning orders had been lifted by a magistrate on appeal.