By Faith Lanyero
A man slapped President Emmanuel Macron in the face on Tuesday during a walkabout in southern France.
https://youtu.be/OzYiLoeAbR0
Courtesy Video: Watch Macron Being SlappedÂ
Macron later said he had not feared for his safety, and that nothing would stop him from carrying on with his job.
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In a video circulating on social media, Macron reached out his hand to greet a man in a small crowd of onlookers standing behind a metal barrier as he visited a professional training college for the hospitality industry.
The man, who was dressed in a khaki T-shirt, then shouted “Down with Macronia” (“A Bas La Macronie”) and slapped Macron on the left side of his face.
He could also be heard shouting “Montjoie Saint-Denis”, the battle cry of the French army when the country was still a monarchy.
Two of Macron’s security detail tackled the man in the T-shirt, and another ushered Macron away. Another video posted on Twitter showed that the president, a few seconds later, returned to the line of onlookers and resumed shaking hands.
The local mayor, Xavier Angeli, said that Macron urged his security to “leave him, leave him” as the offender was being held to the ground.
Two people were arrested, police said. The identity of the man who slapped Macron, and his motives were unclear.
Macron was on a visit to the Drome region to meet restaurateurs and students and talk about returning to a normal life after the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was one of a series of visits he is making, his aides say, to take the nation’s pulse before a presidential election next year. He later continued his visit to the region.
Macron, a former investment banker, is accused by his opponents of being a part of a moneyed elite aloof from the concerns of ordinary citizens.
