Antigovernment jaunes vests (yellow vests) abused Emmanuel Macron while walking with his wife, Brigitte, on Bastille Day in a public garden in Paris, prompting calls from opposition leaders to increase security.
The protesters clashed with the French president and his wife, Brigitte, as they walked with bodyguards in the Tuileries gardens in Paris on Tuesday.
In a video on the gilets jaunes Facebook page, what appears to be a dozen protesters boo and yell “Macron Demission!”(Macron’s resignation) As they surround the presidential party, many film on their phones.
“It is incredible, we have encountered the thorn in our side,” one protester is heard saying.
As security guards watch, Macron engages in close encounter with the agitated men, who wave their fingers at his face as they complain about economic inequality and police surveillance of the protests.
Neither Macron nor the protesters in the video wore facial masks, recommended to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The heated exchange lasted about six minutes.
“It presents a real security problem,” Christian Jacob, head of the opposition right-wing party, the Republicans, told French television. “How can the President of the Republic take such risks?”
Leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said Macron should have been more “cautious” as “a president walking in the Tuileries where there are so many people that he should expect to meet detractors.”
But a government spokesman, Gabriel Attal, said on Wednesday that the incident underscored Macron’s “absolute openness to dialogue”, noting that his opponents often criticized him for being too far from the people. “The President of the Republic can leave the Elysium [the presidential residence]and fortunately, ”said Attal.
In the video, Macron is seen repeatedly urging the confronting group to “be cool,” while taking time to listen to some of his complaints.
He said he understood his “feeling of injustice.” In response to complaints about alleged police abuse, he noted that “there are also violent people among you.”
“This is a holiday [Bastille Day], I go out for a walk with my wife and you are bothering me, ”Macron says to one of them.
According to an official count, around 2,500 protesters and 1,800 law enforcement officers have been injured in the weekly gilets jaunes protests, which started in November 2018. The protests had largely faded in the summer of 2019, although the protests Sporadic events that drew much smaller crowds have continued.
The protests, which started as a protest against the loss of purchasing power and Macron’s perceived contempt for ordinary people, often sparked clashes and riots. Activists say two dozen civilians lost an eye to rubber bullets used by police, and five lost a hand to stun grenades.
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