French President slapped in public

Special Desk

In a shocking incident on Tuesday the French President Emmanuel Macron was slapped on his left cheek by a man in a crowd as he spoke to the public during a visit to southeast France. A video of the incident went viral on social media.

President’s security was swift to tackle the man and pulling the president away from the metal barrier. The footage, was shared by BFM, showing Macron walking up to a metal fence and clasping the arm of a man in the crowd as he began to greet onlookers in the village of Tain-l’Hermitage, in the Drôme region of France. The man, while gripping Macron’s arm, then slapped the President across his left cheek while yelling for the end of “Macronie” — a pejorative term used in the French press for Macron’s presidency.

Two 28-year-old men, including the man who slapped Macron and another accompanying him, were placed in police custody for alleged violence against a person holding public authority, the prosecutor’s office of the city of Valence told.
Moments before slapping Macron, the perpetrator also shouted, “Montjoie! Saint-Denis!,” a medieval battle cry used by the Capetian royal dynasty, which ruled France from the 10th to the 18th century.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who is Macron’s biggest political opponent, said physically attacking the President was “unacceptable,” during a press conference. “We can attack him politically” but any violence against him should be condemned in a democracy, she added.