On Tuesday, President Emmanuel Macron of France visited a small town in southeast France to address the lifting of COVID restriction. He was speaking to a group of restaurant owners when one man in the front row, reached out from the crowd and slapped Macron in the face.
Before striking the President, he allegedly said “down with Macronism!” He also shouted a French battle cry which in court, he labeled “a patriot’s slogan” from its time as a monarchy. The man in the video as well as the man who allegedly filmed the encounter have been arrested.
France’s presidential election is only months away and this one is set to be particularly divisive as Macron has only a slight lead over Marine Le Pen, far-right candidate.
The man who filmed the incident has been identified as a far-right extremist who strongly opposes President Macron. After a search of his home, copies of Hitler’s Mein Kampf were located as well as a variety of weapons. The suspect also was fixated on Medieval French History and identified as “apolitical.”
The court has sentenced the man who struck the president to four months in jail. The man who filmed the encounter will be tried for possession of arms in 2022 but is receiving no charges for the incident involving the president.
Macron labeled the attack “isolated” and said to Le Dauphiné that violence cannot “take over public debate.” His opponent agreed that the attack was “unacceptable and profoundly reprehensible in a democracy.”
Other leaders in France denounced the incident and the use of violence in political discussion. Prime Minister Jean Castex said to the National Assembly: “it must never in any case mean violence, verbal aggression and even less physical attack.”
