Man slaps French President Macron
A bystander slapped French President, Emmanuel Macron across the face, during a trip to South-East France on Tuesday, on the second stop of a nationwide tour.
Images on social media showed Macron approach a barrier to greet a man, who, instead of shaking hands, slapped the 43 year old across the face.
Macron’s bodyguards quickly intervened and two people were arrested afterwards, local officials said.
“The man who tried to slap the president and another individual are currently being questioned by the gendarmerie”, the regional prefecture said in a statement.
The incident in the village of Taun-l’Hermitage in the Drome region represents a serious security breach and overshadows the start of Macron’s tour, which he said, was designed to “take the country’s pulse”.
“Around 1:15pm (1115 GMT), the president got back into his car after visiting a high school and came back because onlookers were calling out to him”, the prefecture said.
“He went to meet them and that’s where the incident happened”.
