Hollande's Brazil Protection Minimal as Bodyguards Forget Weapons

French President Francois Hollande attended the Rio Earth summit last week with minimum protection after his bodyguards left their firearms in Paris, sources close to the case said Tuesday.

The elite GSPR unit which protects the French leader normally travels with a briefcase that contains the weapons, but on their arrival in Brazil on June 19 the bodyguards realized that the weapons had stayed behind at Hollande's office in the Elysee palace.

Weekly satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaine said Hollande's protection had been "bare-handed".

An officer responsible for the neglect was dismissed from the unit because he reportedly tried to blame it on somebody else.