The man who slapped Emmanuel Macron was sentenced to 18 months in prison

A French court in Valence (south-east) Thursday sentenced the man who slapped President Emmanuel Macron to 18 months in prison, of which 14 pending.

The prosecutor had asked against the accused Damien Tarel, 28 years old, these 18 months for “Violence against a person who holds public authority.”

Macron received a slap on Tuesday while traveling in Drôme, in the south of the country. The president approached a fence to greet the people waiting for him in the street. Shaking a man’s hand, this one slapped him with the other, that according to the version of the Elysee did not reach him. The man, identified as Tarel, was quickly immobilized by the security services and him and another person, both aged 28, were arrested.

Macron stressed that it was an isolated act.

“This incident needs to be put into perspective, which I think is an isolated event. We must not let him hide the rest of the issues so important to the lives of many “he said in an interview with the local newspaper The Dauphiné Libéré.

The president said not the feeling that there is a degradation of the political environment.

“I wouldn’t want isolated individuals or people who go to extremes to be able, in a certain way, to make others forget. The French people are republican. The vast majority of French people are interested in basic problems “he added.

The president urged not to let “Isolated facts, of ultraviolent individuals, as there has always been in demonstrations, take possession of the public debate ”, because “they don’t deserve it”.

“In the Republic, there is freedom of expression, controversy, freedom of vote and democratic pluralism which allow one to distance oneself from those regularly mandated and who vote the laws. The counterpart of this is that there can be no violence, no hatred, neither in words nor in actions, ”Macron said.

On the other hand, the government spokesperson, Gabriel Attal, he said that the agent maintain direct contact with the population during your travels for the country despite the slap.

The spokesperson insisted that the head of state “Get in touch with the French without filters” Yes “In 99.99% of cases” there is no incident. According to him, what happened “is an isolated act because it is not necessary to give the impression that what this man did is representative of the French population”.

Attal considered “a good sign” that all politicians immediately condemn the slap and He stressed that “in a democratic country, it is healthy for the debate to take place in a context without violence”.

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