A young man threw what looked like a hard-boiled egg at French President Emmanuel Macron at a business expo on Monday. The assailant was detained.
Macron was attending an expo of catering, hotel, and food businesses in the southern city of Lyon on Monday morning. He shook hands and greeted people inside a pavilion, surrounded by reporters and his security detail.
In an incident caught on film by local news website Lyon Mag, an attendee threw a small round object at the president. The projectile bounced off his left shoulder. Macron, who was wearing a mask, looked with surprise in the direction of the thrower before being quickly shielded by bodyguards. One of the guards blocked the president’s face with his hand.
Macron’s security was filmed restraining an unidentified young man in a black T-shirt, presumed to be the one who threw the projectile and shouted “Vive la revolution!” (“Long live the revolution!”). His motives are currently unclear.
According to Lyon Mag, the projectile was initially believed to have been a hard-boiled egg, but that is yet to be determined.
French media reported that, despite the incident, Macron told his entourage he was willing to chat with the person in question. “If he has something to tell me, let him come over and tell me,” he said, as quoted by Le Parisien. “I’ll see him afterwards. Go get him.”
Macron is known for getting close to locals during his trips, and has exchanged hugs with people he has just met and taken pictures with them on various occasions. He is also no stranger to hostile reactions.
In June, a young man slapped the president in the face when he was touring southern France. The assailant was given a jail sentence and released earlier this month.
In 2017, Macron, at the time a presidential candidate, was hit in the head with an egg at an agricultural fair in Paris.
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