Protester slaps French President Emmanuel Macron in face
In a video circulating on social media, Mr Macron is seen walking up to a barrier on a trip to Tain-l'Hermitage outside the city of Valence. A man in a green T-shirt slaps Mr Macron in the face before officers quickly move in. The president, meanwhile, is pulled away. Two men have been arrested following the incident, French media report.
The man reportedly shouted "Down with Macron-ism" as he slapped the president, as well as "Montjoie, Saint-Denis" - the battle-cry of the old Kingdom of France, about the banner of King Charlemagne. In the video, Mr Macron briefly returned to the barrier after the incident and once again interacted with the crowd. During the incident, the man whose identity and motives were initially unclear could be heard shouting "Montjoie Saint-Denis", a French army battle cry from when the country was still a monarchy.
A presidential security entourage quickly intervened to pull the protester to the ground and move Macron away.'Nothing will stop me,' vows defiant MacronMacron appeared unfazed by the incident, telling regional newspaper La Dauphine Libere that "all is well."We must not let isolated acts, ultra-violent individuals, like there had been some also in protests, dominate the public debate: they don't deserve it," he said.
Macron said he had no specific concerns after the assault and had continued to meet the public." I greeted the people who were by the man's side and made pictures with them. I continued and will continue. Nothing will stop me," he said."The gendarmerie is currently questioning the man who tried to slap the president and another individual," said a statement from the regional prefecture.
"Around 1:15 p.m. (1115 UTC/GMT), the president got back into his car after visiting a high school and came back out because onlookers were calling out to him," the prefecture said. "He went to meet them, and that's where the incident happened."French Prime Minister Jean Castex condemned the incident as "an affront to democracy." Politics can never be violence, verbal aggression, much less physical aggression," the premier told parliament.
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