NEW DELHI: French President Emmanuel Macron was slapped across the face on Tuesday by a bystander during a visit to a small town in southeast France.
The video of the incident went viral on the social media.
Later, Macron’s office confirmed it was real.
Images on social media showed Macron approach a barrier to greet voters, where a long-haired man in a green t-shirt took hold of his elbow and then slapped him.
Macron’s bodyguards can be seen pushing the man away as the French leader is quickly rushed from the scene.
French news broadcaster BFM TV said two people have been detained by police in the assault.
Commenting on the incident, Macron said it was not an isolated incident and must be put in perspective.
“We must not let ultra-violent people take over the public debate, they do not serve it,” he told Le Dauphine Libere Newspaper.
Macron continued his trip afterwards, said an aide, who described the incident as an “attempted slap” though video footage appeared to show the man making contact with the president’s face.
On the video of the incident, someone can be heard shouting “Down with Macronism!” The incident in the village of Tain-l’Hermitage in the Drome region sparked outrage across the political spectrum and overshadowed the start of Macron’s tour, which he said was designed to “take the country’s pulse.” “Politics can never be violence, verbal aggression, much less physical aggression,” Prime Minister Jean Castex told parliament, adding that “through the president, it is democracy that has been targeted.” Far-right leader Marine Le Pen firmly condemned on Twitter “the intolerable physical aggression targeting the president of the Republic.” Visibly fuming, she said later that while Macron is her top political adversary, the assault was “deeply, deeply reprehensible.” The slap is nevertheless likely to spur debate in France about the political climate just two weeks from the first round of regional elections and 10 months from the presidential contest next April.
The attack also follows mounting concerns in France about violence targeting elected officials, particularly after the often-violent “yellow vest” economic protest movement that repeatedly clashed with riot officers in 2019.
(With inputs from agencies)