The controversy stirs the start of the official presidential campaign, Monday, March 28. Sunday, part of the supporters of Eric Zemmour present at his meeting place du Trocadéro, in Paris, chanted “Macron Murderer” without being interrupted. Immediately, other candidates strongly condemned this slogan repeated several times, that the candidate of Reconquest! and his campaign team swear they didn’t hear.
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On Monday, the head of state, targeted by this formula, quipped from Dijon, before Eric Zemmour replied in stride to the criticisms formulated by the president-candidate. Franceinfo summarizes this controversy in five acts.
Act 1: Eric Zemmour supporters chant “Macron assassin”
It is 4:40 p.m. on Sunday, when “Macron Murderer” begin to rise from the crowd massed on the Trocadero esplanade. Eric Zemmour, who has been speaking since 4:17 p.m., has just mentioned “the resignation of the government” and “Fatality” of the executive in the face of terrorism and insecurity, citing several crimes of recent years, including the murders of Sarah Halimi and Mireille Knoll.
In the middle of a meeting of Éric Zemmour at the Trocadero, the crowd chants “Macron, assassin!” pic.twitter.com/9VXCxqVTRn
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) March 27, 2022
The slogan, which makes the Head of State responsible for these tragedies, is taken up by a large part of the public. The tribune, he interrupts the sentence he had started, but does not ask the crowd to stop repeating this slogan, repeated a dozen times. After about fifteen seconds, he continues his speech.
Act 2: the political class condemns this slogan and the attitude of Eric Zemmour
From the end of his meeting, the far-right candidate was strongly criticized by his opponents, who denounced his attitude. “Eric Zemmour lets a crowd shout ‘Macron assassin’. I strongly fight the outgoing president, but letting an opponent be treated as a murderer is dangerous for the Republic”claims Valérie Pécresse, LR candidate, on Twitter.
E.Zemmour lets a crowd shout “Macron assassin”.
I strongly fight the outgoing president but letting an opponent be treated as a murderer is dangerous for the Republic. This is definitely not right! That’s not my France! #ZemmourTrocadero https://t.co/qn3cqYiHp2
— Valerie Pécresse (@vpecresse) March 27, 2022
From Guadeloupe, the candidate of the RN, Marine Le Pen, believes that there is “a form of excess that responds to a form of excess”. On European 1the ecologist Yannick Jadot considers that “This message is unworthy. Emmanuel Macron’s project is not mine (…), but we must remain within the framework of the Republic.” At LREM, Christophe Castaner declares that Eric Zemmour shows himself in this way “unworthy of a position of political leader”.
Act 3: Eric Zemmour, who claims not to have heard the slogans, “does not condone”
Questioned at the end of the meeting, the entourage of Eric Zemmour tries to evacuate any controversy. “In front, we didn’t hear much”comments Bertrand de La Chesnais, campaign director for Eric Zemmour, at the microphone of journalists. “That we, here, in a meeting like that, chant remarks against Macron, that does not shock me. On the other hand, ‘Macron assassin’, of course, that shocks me.”
According to his campaign team, Eric Zemmour “didn’t hear” this slogan and “condemn what the crowd said at that time”. “He does not take up the expression on his own account. He has never used such a term and has never hinted at it in his speech”say his relatives. “Yesterday I did not hear this word that the press is talking about and that I do not endorse”he explains on TwitterMonday morning.
Act 4: Emmanuel Macron mocks Eric Zemmour, “the hard of hearing candidate”
Traveling to Dijon (Côte-d’Or), Monday morning, Emmanuel Macron reacts to this slogan and to the attitude of Eric Zemmour at the time, evoking “two hypotheses” as to the lack of disapproval of the candidate during the meeting. “The first is indignity, it is rather the one that seems to me the most credible”believes the president-candidate.
“Macron assassin”: E.#Macron responds to E.#Zemmour: “2 hypotheses: indignity. The second: ignorance of a five-year reform, 100% health. Hearing aids are reimbursed by social security, I invite the hard of hearing candidate to equip himself » pic.twitter.com/RAvTIBBGQu
— Guillaume Daret (@GuillaumeDaret) March 28, 2022
Emmanuel Macron then jokes about the arguments put forward by the far-right candidate after the meeting. “The second [hypothèse], it is the ignorance of a very important reform of the five-year term, it is 100% health. Now, hearing aids are reimbursed by Social Security (…). I invite the deaf candidate to equip himself at a lower cost”he scoffs.
Act 5: Zemmour replies to Macron, himself tackled by Mélenchon
Eric Zemmour responds to Emmanuel Macron on BFMTV, Monday noon. “I did not hear these words. Quite simply. So obviously, I do not endorse them”he defends himself, before denouncing “a bad controversy, a pathetic controversy, because journalists and politicians don’t want to see the reality”. Emmanuel Macron “he knows very well (…) that we don’t hear everything that is going on. (…) These are bad trials. We are talking about a minor thing.”
Qualified for “deaf candidate”Eric Zemmour denounces a “bathroom boy joke”. On TwitterJean-Luc Mélenchon also criticizes the choice of this expression by the president-candidate. “Definitely! Not one to catch up with the other! Insult from a handicap, are we still there in 2022?” he pretends to question, when he revealed in 2015 to suffer from deafness.