President Macron receives a slap in the face from Damien Tarel. Still from YouTube
Macron slapped in the face by royalist
Damien Tarel, presumed author of the aggression against the French president, and Arthur C. were arrested by the gendarmes of the Surveillance and Intervention Platoon of the Gendarmerie (PSIG) of Valence. They were presented, according to one source, as “yellow vests”, a fact which was denied by the public prosecutor.
Published: June 9, 2021, 9:25 am
French daily Le Figaro reported that all the people present in the perimeter of the President of the Republic at the time of the slap had been searched before having gained access to the area. The two men arrested were unknown to the intelligence services as well as to justice, said Alex Perrin, public prosecutor in Valence. “At this stage of the custody, their motivations are not known,” Perrin told the media.
The pair are suspected of having participated in an undeclared rally that took place earlier – a demonstration of 25 people in Valence around noon which brought together farmers, yellow vests and other activists. These demonstrations were broken up and the protesters left for Tain-l’Hermitage, where the incident with the French leader took place.
The main suspect and alleged perpetrator’s Instagram account shows him as an instructor of AMHE, the French Federation of European Historical Martial Arts, amateurs who re-enact medieval battles. But the Federation condemned his gesture and affirmed that “Damien Tarel is not known nor affiliated” to it.
The men involved were interviewed by le Quotidien only hours before the infamous slap in the face. One noted that he wanted to confront Macron because the President had stated that France does not have its own particular culture. BFMTV reported that the author of the slap was 28 years old and a “rightwing royalist” who shouted “Montjoie Saint Denis!” – the battle-cry and motto of the Kingdom of France.
The Battle of Poitiers 1356. The Oriflamme banner can be seen on the top left. Wikipedia
It is a reference to Charlemagne’s legendary banner the Oriflamme, which was also known as the “Montjoie” kept at the Abbey of Saint Denis. The battle-cry was first used during the reign of Louis VI of France, the first royal bearer of the Oriflamme, the battle standard of the King of France in the Middle Ages in times of great danger.
These days the term is associated with royalist conservatives in France. Thus, in June 2021, French president Emmanuel Macron was slapped in the face by a man who had shouted the phrase. French legislator Éric Coquerel claimed that the perpetrators of a 2018 pie attack against him, associated with Action Française, had also shouted the phrase.
Macron down-played the incident. “Everything is fine,” he said after receiving a slap in the face from Tarel standing in the middle of a small crowd that came to cheer Macron. The facts occurred on Tuesday, June 8 in Tain-l’Hermitage, in the Drôme. Emmanuel Macron had been traveling in the department to face the restaurateurs, whose indoor areas will reopen on Wednesday, June 9.
“We have to put this incident into perspective, which I think is an isolated event. This should not obscure the rest of the very important subjects which concern the lives of many,” Macron responded in an interview with Dauphiné Libéré, afterwards. The President of the Republic then warned that he would not back down in the face of what he described as “ultraviolent individuals”.
“Let us not have these isolated facts, or ultraviolent individuals – as there are always some in demonstrations too – take over the public debate: they do not deserve it,” he added. Macron also told Dauphiné Libéré that it was necessary “to respect the functions in the Republic”. Politicians from all parties agreed, including Marine Le Pen, who condemned the attack.
Prime Minister Jean Castex before the National Assembly, according to AFP, said: “Democracy […] is debate, it is dialogue, it is the confrontation of ideas, it is the expression of legitimate disagreements, of course, but it cannot in any manner include violence, verbal aggression and even less physical aggression.”
As a reminder, the two men were arrested. They were placed in police custody after the fact, for “willful violence against a person holding public authority”. The two individuals face three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 45 000 euros.
Macron giflé : autre angle (source : DR) pic.twitter.com/0UbiwfMXjw
— Jean-Rémi Baudot (@jrbaudot) June 8, 2021
All rights reserved. You have permission to quote freely from the articles provided that the source (www.freewestmedia.com) is given. Photos may not be used without our consent.
Consider donating to support our work
Help us to produce more articles like this. FreeWestMedia is depending on donations from our readers to keep going. With your help, we expose the mainstream fake news agenda.
Keep your language polite. Readers from many different countries visit and contribute to Free West Media and we must therefore obey the rules in, for example, Germany. Illegal content will be deleted.
If you have been approved to post comments without preview from FWM, you are responsible for violations of any law. This means that FWM may be forced to cooperate with authorities in a possible crime investigation.
If your comments are subject to preview by FWM, please be patient. We continually review comments but depending on the time of day it can take up to several hours before your comment is reviewed.
We reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, contain slander or foul language, or are irrelevant to the discussion.
Europe
Care prompts bishops to criticize transgender ideology
The Catholic bishops of the Scandinavian countries presented an open five-page letter criticizing transgender ideology on March 21, just before Easter. The document primarily expresses care and advice and was read aloud in Catholic churches in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland. Cardinal Anders Arborelius, Bishop of Stockholm, is one of the signatories of the document.
Brits Forced to Live in Darkness and Cold
Food prices are rising at a furious pace, fastest in Scotland in almost half a century. At the same time, energy prices are at record highs. People are forced to choose between freezing or going hungry, and a majority of Scots are forced to live in cold and darkness to cope with bills. Old generations' tricks for saving and keeping warm are returning. Nevertheless, it is feared that 10,000 Brits will die of cold homes this winter. We present the Swedish Public Health Agency's guidelines on indoor temperature. Governments in Europe are introducing rationing and monitoring of food purchases. Net-zero emissions are a lie that, in practice, de-industrializes the West and dramatically lowers our standard of living.
Thousands of Flemish farmers block roads in Brussels against nitrogen policy
BrusselsMore than 2500 farmers from Belgium's Dutch-speaking Flanders region gathered at Brussels' central Arts-Loi street and blocked roads with tractors toward Brussels to protest the regional government's plan to limit nitrogen emissions.
Orban: EU energy sanctions costing citizens billions
BudapestHungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has warned that some western states could soon send troops to Ukraine. He also criticized the fact that the EU sanctions against Russia had cost Hungarian taxpayers tens of billions of euros.
Italy: New leader of the Social Democrats is one of Soros’ ‘preferred politicians’
RomeDuring the election campaign, Elly Schlein presented herself as the standard-bearer of the poorest. However, her background and previous work raise doubts about her honesty.
UK greenhouses shut down due to high energy costs
LondonIn Great Britain, a particularly depressing facet of the crisis is now showing its first contours - and thus anticipating what is likely to happen in other European countries in the near future: because of the exploding energy prices, agriculture is being strangled and fresh produce has to be rationed.
Lisbon opens borders to all Portuguese speakers
LisbonNot only the German and Italian governments keep opening new paths for immigration. Portugal, too, has opened a Pandora's box and is paving the way for possibly millions of non-European immigrants to the EU – something which is not mentioned by the mainstream media.
Illegal immigration to Italy has reached its highest level ever
RomeIn Italy, despite the overwhelming right-wing electoral success in September, there is still nothing to be seen of the promised asylum turnaround – on the contrary. Giorgia Meloni has been in office for five months, but the arrivals of migrants in Italy have doubled compared to the previous year.
Dismantling diplomacy with ‘feminist foreign policy’
BudapestGerman Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) wants to counter German security issues abroad with feminist politics. Gender training, LGBTQ events and quotas are now part of their new guidelines, which are intended to bring about "cultural change". The German ambassador to Hungary, Julia Gross, provided an embarrassing example.
Germans demand investigation of Nord Stream sabotage
BerlinAfter the sensational revelations by US investigative reporter Seymour Hersh about the perpetrators of the Nord Stream attacks on September 26, 2022, the German government has remained silent. It does not want to comment on Hersh's research results, according to which the pipelines were blown up by Americans and Norwegians.
