Man held over Macron slapping was medieval martial arts enthusiast
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[June 09, 2021]
PARIS (Reuters) - The man alleged to
have slapped French President Emmanuel Macron in the face ran a club for
enthusiasts of medieval swordsmanship and had no previous criminal
record, sources close to the investigation said on Wednesday.
A police source identified the suspect as 28-year-old Damien Tarel. He
is under investigation for assault against a public official, the local
prosecutor said.
Macron, who has been on a tour to take the pulse of the country after
the pandemic and less than a year before the next presidential election,
was hit on Tuesday during a walkabout in southern France as he greeted a
small crowd of onlookers.
Tarel, dressed in a khaki T-shirt, then shouted "Down with Macronia" and
"Montjoie Saint Denis", the battle cry of the French army when the
country was a monarchy.
A source close to the investigation described him as someone who was "a
bit lost, a bit geeky, a bit of a gamer".
Tarel and a second man were still in police custody on Wednesday, the
source added. The charge of assault against a public official carries a
maximum sentence of three years in jail and a 45,000 euro fine.
Tarel managed a local club of martial arts enthusiasts focused on the
practice of historical European martial arts, including traditional
swordsmanship.
Macron said he had not feared for his safety, and continued shaking
hands with members of the public after he was struck.
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French President Emmanuel Macron is protected by a security member
after getting slapped by a member of the public during a visit in
Tain-L'Hermitage, France, in this still image taken from video on
June 8, 2021. BFMTV/ReutersTV via REUTERS
In an interview with the Dauphine Libere newspaper
after the incident, Macron said: "You cannot have violence, or hate,
either in speech or actions. Otherwise, it's democracy itself that
is threatened."
Macron has been targetted before by disenchanted citizens. In 2016,
when he was economy minister, he was pelted with eggs by hardleft
trade unionists over labour reforms and two years later was left
shaken after he was heckled by anti-government protesters.
"We can disagree with what President Macron has done. We vote next
year and there will be plenty of people voting against him, said
Parisian Louis Bernard "but this electoral campaign cannot be based
on violence."
(Reporting by Tangi Salaun and Caroline Pailliez; Writing by Michel
Rose; Editing by Richard Lough and Angus MacSwan)
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