Protesters in Paris try to enter a theater where Emmanuel Macron is

Thirty opponents of Emmanuel Macron and the pension reform gathered on Friday, January 17, in front of the Parisian theater of Bouffes du Nord where he spent the evening in the company of his wife, Brigitte Macron. After entering it, the demonstrators were repelled by the police, according to concordant sources.

According to the entourage of the presidential couple, dozens of people tried to enter the theater. The head of state, who was attending a performance at the time, was "made safe" for a few minutes before he could return to see the play until the end.

The Paris Prefecture of Police confirmed that the demonstrators had failed to enter.

"All together, general strike"

The president, who likes to go out discreetly in Paris to go to a restaurant or a theater, left the place by car around 10 p.m. under police escort.

The cries of "all together, general strike", the demonstrators faced for about an hour many police deployed outside the establishment of the 10th arrondissement of Paris.

Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron were attending a performance of "La Mouche" when the militant journalist Taha Bouhafs, seated three rows behind, tweeted photos which incited activists to disrupt the show, according to a close associate of the president.

I am currently at the Bouffes du Nord theater (Metro La Chapelle)
3 rows behind the president of the republic.

Activists are somewhere around the corner and are calling on everyone to come back.

Something is brewing ... the evening may be hectic. pic.twitter.com/0mfwQPwdzr

"What regime are we in ..."

"We were at Paris 7 university for a popular university, someone received a message saying that Macron was there, so we came to show that we are present, that there is a protest against the reform of the pensions, but not only, "said Arthur Knight, one of the protesters.

For his part, the entourage of the president said that he "will continue to go to theatrical performances as he is used to. He will take care to defend the freedom of creation, so that it is not disturbed by violent political actions. "

According to a judicial source, activist journalist Taha Bouhafs was then arrested and taken to the police station, without it being specified on Friday evening whether or not he had been placed in police custody.

The filmed arrest of @T_Bouhafs by @vvoldoire: https://t.co/v1BbS3mcHc

"The perpetrators of these attacks sow violence and discord. We will drive them back by the rally of the French and solidarity," reacted the boss of LREM deputies, Gilles Le Gendre.

As for Insoumis MP Eric Coquerel, he accused: "What regime are we in for a president, furious that demonstrators conspire him outside a theater, to arrest a journalist who was there and who had dared to communicate about his presence? #monarchy #liberezTaha "

In what regime are we so that a president, furious that demonstrators conspire him outside a theater, have arrested a journalist who was there and who had dared to communicate on his presence? #monarchy #liberezTaha https://t.co/0ZNicyRXtr

Known for having filmed Alexandre Benalla violating a couple in Paris on May 1, 2018, Taha Bouhafs, had already been placed in police custody in June while he was covering a demonstration in the Paris suburbs, attracting the support of part of the profession. He is to be tried on February 22 in Créteil for "contempt and rebellion".

Little visible to the public for weeks, Emmanuel Macron has not been crowded since his visit to Amiens on November 21 and 22, before the pension reform.

On Friday, the 44th day of the strike against the pension reform, several other targeted actions were carried out by opponents of the reform. Among them, an intrusion at the headquarters of the CFDT, favorable to the universal pension system by points denounced by the strikers and the blocking of the entrance to the Louvre pyramid.

With AFP

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