Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Le Puy-en-Velay, a town in the Auvergne region of south-central France, in December 2018 must be one of the low points of his presidency. The gilets jaunes protests at that point seemed to threaten his government’s survival. Violent demonstrators had run amok in central Paris on three consecutive weekends and the unrest had spread to the provinces.
The prefecture in Le Puy-en-Velay had been attacked and set alight by a mob. Mr Macron came to the town to see the damage and show solidarity with public servants whose lives had been threatened. Word spread of the president’s visit and protesters quickly gathered to vent their anger.
William Drozdiak recounts the episode in his new book: “Macron likes to mingle and wanted to engage the militants in impromptu debate, but his security guards feared that things might get out of control and pushed him into his limousine as the menacing crowd approached. Several protesters jumped in front of his car, shouting obscenities and chanting, ‘We hate you!’. As loud boos rang out, Macron opened his window and tried to speak with a woman, but she spat at him and screamed, ‘You bastard! I hope you crash and die on your way out of here!’”.