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Man who slapped France President Macron jailed four months

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Man who slapped France President Macron jailed four months

A 28-year-old man, Damien Tarel, who slapped France President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, has been sentenced to four months in prison by a court in the southeastern city of Valence.

Tarel, who was convicted on charges of violence against a person with public authority, was given an additional 14-month suspended sentence, and also banned from ever holding public office and from owning weapons for five years.

During Thursday’s trial, Tarel testified that the attack was impulsive and unplanned, and was not prompted by anger at France’s “decline”.

At the hearing, Tarel described himself as a right-wing or extreme-right “patriot,” and member of the “yellow vest” economic protest movement that shook Macron’s presidency in 2018 and 2019.

Read also: Mysterious man slaps French President, Macron during walkabout

He acknowledged hitting the president with a “rather violent” slap.

“When I saw his friendly, lying look, I felt disgust, and I had a violent reaction.

“It was an impulsive reaction . . . I was surprised myself by the violence.”

He said he and his friends had considered bringing an egg or a cream pie to throw at the president, but they dropped the idea and insisted that the slap was not pre-meditated.

“I think that Emmanuel Macron represents the decline of our country,” he said, without explaining what he meant.

By Isaac Dachen…

 

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