I looked everywhere for how to do this for a 996 and as hard as it feels, the front handle really does just slide off. There are 'channels' that the cover slides on to on the handbrake chassis, so you can't really twist the cover to remove it, instead I gently twisted it side to side and then used some plastic trim removal tools to ease if forwards by levering against the body of the handle where the two join. Here's a photo to help!