French President Emmanuel Macron was greeted with tomatoes during his first appearance in public since his re-election on Sunday. Mr Macron was greeting the French people following his convincing victory in the presidential election when someone from the crowd hurled tomatoes at him. The tomatoes, however, missed the president.
A video on Twitter showed Mr Macron, surrounded by his security, accepting greetings from his supporters when tomatoes were thrown at him. The tomatoes missed the French president and, instead, hit one of his security guards, who shouted “projectile”.
The security officials immediately covered Mr Macron from all directions and then one of them unfolded a special umbrella to shield him from above. The incident triggered a brief commotion as security officials appeared to convince Mr Macron to move to a safer place.
In the footage, we can see Mr Macron leaving the location after the incident.
Watch the video here:
Mr Macron defeated his rival and far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the election. In his second term, the 44-year-old president will have to confront a number of hurdles, beginning with parliamentary elections in June, where maintaining a majority would be key to achieving his reform goals.
His first term was marred by street protests in France against the pro-business reforms. Many expect the protests to start all over again during the second term. Already, a crowd of mostly young people had gathered in central Paris after Mr Macron's re-election. Police had to spray teargas to disperse the demonstrators.
