WATCH: Macron Pelted With Tomatoes in First Public Outing After Re-Election

French President Emmanuel Macron (C) gestures as he meets residents at the Saint-Christoph
BENOIT TESSIER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

French President Emmanuel Macron was pelted with a flurry of tomatoes during his first public appearance since winning re-election on Sunday.

During a a visit to a market in the commune of Cergy in the Parisian suburbs on Wednesday morning, President Macron was bombarded with tomatoes as he tried to meet members of the public.

The French leader was said to have not been injured in the attack, with his security detail quickly covering up Mr Macron with umbrellas as the tomatoes came down upon him.

According to a report from the French broadcaster BFMTV, the visit to the market in the Val-d’Oise prefecture was the first interaction the head of state has had with the public since securing a second five-year term on Sunday. The broadcaster went on to note that the visit was only announced early Wednesday morning.

Prior to being subjected to spontaneous acts of fruit, Mr Macron said of his visit to Cergy: “This trip illustrates the will of the President of the Republic since 2017 to go on the ground, in contact with French people, to exchange with them, listening to their concerns, expectations and needs.”

It is unclear whether the umbrellas used by Macron’s security detail to protect him from the improvised missiles were of the ordinary type, or the reinforced kevlar specials designed to slow blades, acid, and even bullets reported to have been created for then-president Nicolas Sarkozy a decade ago.

Though Mr Macron handily secured victory over his right-wing populist opponent Marine Le Pen, by a margin of 58.5 to 41.5 per cent, France has already seen widespread unrest, with leftist groups staging protests and riots following the re-election of the former Rothschild banker as president.

Despite the wide margin of victory, exit polling has indicated that the youth of France are turning away from the globalist policies of Mr Macron, with Le Pen securing nearly as many votes from Millennials.

At the time of this reporting, it is unclear as to the identity of the perpetrator or indeed the motivation behind throwing cherry tomatoes at the French leader.

It is not, however, the first time that Mr Macron has been assaulted while meeting with the French public. Last year, for instance, he was filmed getting slapped in the department of Drôme by a man who later described himself as a right-wing “patriot”. The man was later sentenced to four months in prison.

In September of last year, President Macron was also assailed by a man throwing an egg at him, however, the egg bounced off his shoulder without breaking on the French president.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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