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The French President took five to the face.

I’m pretty sure any resident of just about any country has dreamed at least once of delivering an open-palm slap to the face of an elected official. It would undoubtedly feel awesome, but it probably wouldn’t accomplish much beyond making their face a little red and landing you in prison. Unfortunately, it seems one Frenchman’s train of thought didn’t reach that second station.

French President Emmanuel Macron paid a visit today to the Tain-Hermitage school, a culinary institute, in honor of France’s upcoming motions to reopen the indoor dining industry after a lengthy COVID-induced lockdown. During his visit, he approached a large ground of onlookers behind a barricade to glad-hand a bit. The first man he approached didn’t seem very interested in shaking his hand, however; instead, he introduced Macron’s face to his own hand, shouting “A Bas La Macronie,” or “Down with Macron’s kingdom,” as he did. The man was promptly swarmed by Macron’s guard’s, while the President himself was hustled away, jarred but otherwise unharmed.

Two men were arrested in the process; one was the man who perpetrated the slap, while the other was arrested for undisclosed (but presumably related) reasons. French Prime Minister Jean Castex decried the act of violence as undemocratic, saying “I call for a renewal of the republic.”

Macron’a Valence şehri dışındaki bir tren istasyonunda vatandaşlardan biri tokat attı. Konuyla ilgili iki kişi tutuklandı. pic.twitter.com/QVrn9QIxpV

— Kasım İleri (@kasimileri_) June 8, 2021

Aside from this strange little hiccup, Macron is still eager to reopen the French dining industry. Starting tomorrow, indoor dining will once again be permitted, and COVID curfews will extend to 11:00 PM. All remaining COVID-related restrictions are scheduled to be lifted by the end of June, pending the severity of the pandemic and the progress of vaccination at the time.

“Tomorrow, a new step will be taken,” Macron said in French on his Twitter. “It is life that will resume in all our territories! It is part of our culture, of our art of living, that we are going to rediscover.”