A 28-year-old Frenchman who described himself as a right-wing or extreme-right “patriot” is sentenced to four months in prison for slapping President Emmanuel Macron around the face.
Damien Tarel was also banned from ever holding public office in France and from owning weapons for five years over the swipe, which caught Macron’s left cheek with an audible thwack as the French leader was greeting a crowd.
During today’s trial, Tarel testified that the attack was impulsive and unplanned, and prompted by anger at France’s “decline.”
French President Emmanuel Macron is slapped in the face by a man during a visit in a small town of southeastern France, June 8, 2021. (Screen capture: Twitter)
Another man arrested in the ruckus that followed the slap, identified by the prosecutor as Arthur C., will be judged at a later date, in 2022, for illegal possession of weapons.
The French prosecutor’s office says that as well as finding weapons, police who searched the home of Arthur C. also found books on the art of war, a copy of Adolf Hitler’s manifesto “Mein Kampf,” and two flags, one symbolizing Communists and another of the Russian revolution.
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From the Liveblog of
Thursday, June 10, 2021
