The video was released by an organization that, according to the daily Libération, has links to the far right, but the French president did not know the identity of the other singers, according to his entourage.

The scene seems surreal to the point that many Internet users imagine a montage or a "deepfake".

Monday evening, shortly after his first speech after the promulgation of the highly contested pension reform, Emmanuel Macron sings "The Refuge", by Edmond Duplan, a traditional song of the Pyrenees region, in the street, not far from the Montparnasse tower.

"After his speech, the President of the Republic took a moment with his wife. They were stopped by a group of young people singing (...) He then joined them for a Pyrenean song that he likes and knows, "responded Tuesday the entourage of the head of state, solicited by AFP.

"He could not have known at that time the background of each person with whom he spoke," insisted the same source.

A first video showing the scene was published shortly after midnight on the Facebook page "Project Canto", showcase of an eponymous organization and singing application, with the caption: "There is only the mafia and Project Canto to blackmail a head of state".

The association defines itself on its website as a defender of heritage, saving popular songs in digital format.

However, an investigation by the daily Libération published in 2022 singled out the association, arguing that it had been founded and led by far-right activists, and that the application listed, among other things, nationalist songs or songs associated with the Third Reich.

"Political singing is part of the history of singing, it is as such that it is listed. Some are related to the far right, others to the far left (...) our choice is simply to list all the popular songs," the association replied to Libération.

In another video seeming to show the beginning of the scene, relayed Tuesday by a journalist of Valeurs actuelles, we see the head of state apostrophized. "Do you want to come with us to sing?" one of the people asks.

The scene is cut, then we see Emmanuel Macron ask "how do you know this song?", before a person suggests singing "The Refuge".

"Come on, make me a verse of the Refuge," replies the president, who had already sung it during a trip to the Hautes-Pyrénées in 2022.

© 2023 AFP