An outraged Frenchman pimp slapped French President Emmanuel Macron, video obtained by Your Content reveals.
In a video circulating on social media, Mr Macron is seen walking up to a barrier on a trip to Tain-l’Hermitage outside the city of Valence.
A man in a green T-shirt slaps Mr Macron in the face before officers quickly move in. The president, meanwhile, is pulled away.
Two men have been arrested following the incident, French media report.
In the footage filmed at midday by a witness, Mr. Macron is seen approaching a small crowd of people in Tain-l’Hermitage, a town in the Drôme region of France that he was visiting to speak with members of the food and restaurant industry ahead of a new loosening of Covid 19-related restrictions this week.
“Democracy is debate, it is dialogue, it is the confrontation of ideas, the expression of legitimate disagreements,” Mr. Castex told France’s lower house of Parliament. “But it can never be violence or verbal assault, let alone physical assault.”
Even Mr. Macron’s most vehement critics expressed support. Marine Le Pen, the head of the far-right National Rally party and Mr. Macron’s main opponent in next year’s presidential elections, said it was “unacceptable” to physically attack the head of the French Republic.
“I am Emmanuel Macron’s first opponent, but he is the president,” Ms. Le Pen said at a news conference in eastern France. “One can fight him politically, but one cannot be violent in any way against him.”