Emmanuel Macron.
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Abdulmonam Eassa / AP / SIPA
Berlin police said on Monday they were investigating a Youtubeur who walked the streets of the German capital on Saturday in traditional Arab clothes, whipping and holding on a leash a person disguised as Emmanuel Macron.
This action comes as the French president has become the target of several Muslim countries which criticize him for his statements defending the right to cartoon in the name of freedom of expression after the beheading in mid-October by an Islamist of a French teacher, Samuel Paty.
On a busy street in southern Berlin
"Dressed in a caftan, he would have pulled one of his acquaintances wearing a wig and a Macron mask with a rope behind him in the district of Neukölln, would have insulted him and acted as if he was beating him", explained the police on Twitter.
In a video released on Saturday, a man, dressed in a traditional white robe and wearing a red and white keffiyeh on his head, is seen leading another person down the street wearing a black suit, blonde wig and face mask. effigy of Emmanuel Macron.
She is dragged like a slave down this busy street in southern Berlin and occasionally receives light lashes.
About ten young people follow the procession in this district which is home to a strong Arabic-speaking community.
A satire or a protest?
The 20-year-old
Youtuber,
presented by
Tagesspiegel
as the Syrian Fayez Kanfash, has been living in Berlin for several years.
It is still not clear whether his action on Saturday was intended to be satirical or whether it was aimed at protesting against the words of the French head of state on cartoons and freedom of expression.
French President Emmanuel Macron has been criticized for several days in different countries of Muslim culture for having defended Professor Samuel Paty, beheaded by a religious fanatic, who had shown caricatures of Muhammad in his class.
In Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel gave her support to the French president, a handful of protesters hostile to Macron gathered on Thursday and Friday in the German capital, in particular in front of the Brandenburg Gate where the French embassy is located.
In tribute to the French professor beheaded on October 16, the German authorities recommended that schools observe a minute of silence in the classes on Monday, as is the case in France.
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