Paris (AFP)

Emmanuel Macron did not "seek to provoke" a crowd when he went to Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis) on Tuesday and greeted passers-by, assured Sibeth Ndiaye on Wednesday in the face of the criticisms raised by this grouping around the chief of the state contrary to the required distancing against the coronavirus.

The president "obviously did not seek to provoke this crowd, he wished to greet the citizens who were in particular at their windows. There were in particular young people who descended around him. (...) His vocation obviously to always respect barrier gestures and he had the opportunity, at that time, to remind those around him, "said the government spokeswoman after the Council of Ministers .

Sibeth Ndiaye also assured that each trip of the president was "organized so as to obviously respect health precautions".

Ms. Ndiaye, however, ruled out the possibility that the head of state reduced his trips. The Élysée Palace told AFP that the head of state "would prosecute" them in order to "show its support and recognition to those mobilized in this fight" against the Covid-19.

After Tuesday visiting a nursing home in Pantin, in which he had removed the mask he wore when entering, Emmanuel Macron greeted at length from below the building of people out on the balconies, according to the journalist of the AFP on site.

While his car was waiting for him, ready to leave for La Courneuve, the president then left on foot in a perpendicular street where many people passed despite the confinement. Thirty to forty people then gathered around the head of state, many photographing him with his smartphone in hand, with cries sometimes of encouragement but also of contestation.

The head of state stayed about five minutes in front of this small group, saying to them with a smile, his hands clasped in an Indian greeting: "I know it's hard but you have to hold on, respect the rules" or again, extending his arm: "you are too close, there".

The images of this meeting were filmed by LCI and by many Internet users, which prompted many comments on social networks.

The National Rally diverted Wednesday the government message of prevention of the coronavirus, by affirming on Twitter: "do not like Macron: respect a meter of distance with any person, do not cause crowds and stay at home". Its president Marine Le Pen had the day before deemed "dismaying" this gathering.

Previously, the president of the UDI Jean-Christophe Lagarde had said to regret "contradictory injunctions: at the time when the confinement is tightened (...) we actually show that the president creates - unintentionally of course - a crowd", has he said on CNews.

"Both for him at a time when (British Prime Minister) Boris Johnson is in intensive care and for the population that has congregated, we do not need travel which certainly makes it possible to send messages, but contradictory messages ", continued the elected official of Seine-Saint-Denis.

"Irresponsible and dangerous ... When the worst example comes from above and destroys all messages of responsibility," commented for his part LR Nice member Eric Ciotti on Twitter.

"Another 1,427 deaths of the Covid-19 today, and Macron is going to make a crowd without masks. But what a puppet!", Tweeted Tuesday the Yellow Vest support of Standing France, Benjamin Cauchy.

© 2020 AFP