A yet to be identified bystander has landed the French President, Emmanuel Macron a slap across the face as he stepped down from his car and made to shakes hands with members of the public.
The incident took place during the President’s second stop on his trip to the southeast of France on Tuesday.
The widely shared video shows the moment 43-year-old Macron stretched out his hand to greet the man across a barricade.
Instead of a friendly handshake, the man slapped the President across his face. French police promptly pulled the President away and arrested 2 men immediately.
The Police, in a statement released soon afterwards said that, “The man who tried to slap the President and another individual are currently being questioned by the gendarmarie.”
“The incident in the village of Tain-L’Hermitage in the Drome region represents a serious security breach and overshadows the start of Macron’s tour which he said is designed to ‘take the country’s pulse.'”
“Around 1:15 pm (1115 GMT), the President got back into his car after visiting a high school and came back out because onlookers were calling out to him,” the police representative said. “He went to meet them and that’s where the incident happened.”
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Bystander Slaps Emmanuel Macron
President of France since 14 May 2017