• During a trip to Tain (Drôme) on Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron was slapped by a 28-year-old man, who was immediately arrested.

  • "20 Minutes" asked Jean-Pierre Diot, former bodyguard of Nicolas Sarkozy and vice-president of the French Federation of Close Protection, to analyze the images of this attack.

  • For this retired policeman, "it would be necessary that one of the advisers of the Head of State tell him to listen to the instructions of the security officers so that this does not happen again".

During a trip to the Drôme on Tuesday, the President of the Republic was slapped by a 28-year-old man whom he had gone to greet.

The police officers who ensure the protection of the head of state immediately extract Emmanuel Macron and overpower the individual, Damien T., a fan of medieval history who follows the royalist far right on social networks.

Was this assault preventable? 

20 Minutes

asked Jean-Pierre Diot, former bodyguard of Nicolas Sarkozy and vice-president of the French Federation of Close Protection, to analyze what happened.

How do you analyze what happened yesterday?

We saw, on the images broadcast, that the convoy of the President of the Republic had been stopped and that Emmanuel Macron quickly got out of his vehicle, practically running, without the security device having had the information.

What matters when something happens is the reaction time.

And to be responsive, you have to be as close as possible to the protected personality, and not waste time.

However, when the president arrived, there was a little downtime, the staff were not fully in place.

Normally, in this kind of case, the workforce is organized to arrive a little upstream.

#Macron gets slapped live from #Tain pic.twitter.com/tsXdByo22U

- ⚜️ (@AlexpLille) June 8, 2021

In the images, the bodyguards follow Emmanuel Macron before catching up with him ...

In a convoy, the security officers are in the cars surrounding the presidential car, with heavy weaponry. The assault rifles are ready for use, in the hands of the officers, in case anything happens. However, on a hasty stop like that of the president, they must first put the weapons in safety before getting out of the vehicle. It takes a few seconds, and sometimes they are not completely coordinated with the exit of the head of state.

One of the Head of State's advisers would have to tell him to listen to the instructions of the security officers so that this does not happen again.

That he wants to thank the crowd for being is one thing.

But he must know that he is not alone, that without his security, he will have difficulty working.

He could also have invoked respect for barrier gestures to avoid coming into contact with this gentleman and not allowing his arm to be caught.

How is the security of the President of the Republic organized during this type of travel?

There are reconnaissance carried out in order to know where to dispose of the personnel on the day of the visit.

It is also necessary to find evacuation routes in case of problems.

"Collection" vehicles are placed there to exfiltrate the president in a secure place in case his vehicle is taken to task.

A device is then put in place around the personality to be protected.

In case of problems, officers will go to oppose the aggression while others will take care of the evacuation.

It is a lot of work.

Has this type of assault ever happened while you were in office?

I was assigned to the Senior Personalities Support Group, which is part of the Protection Service, the former SPHP (Service for the Protection of High Personalities).

It is a group made up of about twenty police officers, called in to protect all the most threatened presidents who came to France: the United States, Russia, Israel… It never happened because we anticipated all the possibilities.

But having worked with Nicolas Sarkozy, I know it is not easy.

He also wanted to get out of the car quickly, and that was complicated to deal with.

It comes out, and it's up to you to adapt!

It is a permanent tension.

The images released on Tuesday show only a small part of Emmanuel Macron's trip.

But since morning he had been on the go and colleagues had to follow him.

You have to be able to react quickly, but training is made for that.

How are these police officers trained?

There is a fairly hard selection to enter the service of protection.

Then the police are trained in the appropriate and appropriate techniques.

The training lasts quite a long time.

They start their careers by protecting foreign personalities who are not exposed to particular risks, to accustom them to everything that affects a certain category of people.

You have to keep your cool while being professional, courteous… It can be learned in the field.

Politics

Emmanuel Macron slapped: Why is violence against elected politicians increasing?

Miscellaneous

Emmanuel Macron slapped: Who is Damien T., the aggressor of the President of the Republic?

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  • Emmanuel Macron

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