Macron heckled on first outing since pension battle

AFP.com, 19 April, 2023-French President Emmanuel Macron was loudly booed by crowds in eastern France on Wednesday as he embarked on his first trip to a French region since signing his unpopular pensions reform into law.

The French president was heckled during a visit to the small town of Sélestat, in the Alsace region, with protesters banging pots and chanting slogans including “Macron resign!”

“You’ll fall soon, just wait and see,” one man told the French leader, describing his government as “corrupt”. “We don’t want this pension (reform), what don’t you get?” asked another.

Electricity was briefly cut while he visited a local factory, where demonstrators had gathered holding hostile banners.

Asked by a journalist how he felt, the president replied: “I have had it worse.” Police pushed back dozens of protesters banging kitchenware earlier in the day ahead of the president’s arrival in the village of Muttersholtz. “Saucepans will not allow France to move forward,” Macron said as he visited a wood factory in the village.