"Radicalization" of the strike movement against pension reform, or a legitimate demonstration against a criticized head of state? Friday evening, a few dozen protesters attempted to enter the Bouffes du Nord theater in Paris (10th district), where Emmanuel Macron and his wife attended a performance of the play "La Mouche".
These opponents were alerted to this presence by messages posted on social networks shortly before 9 p.m. One of the people who took over from her, journalist and activist Taha Bouhafs, was soon taken to the police station.
What happened ?
Several videos posted on Twitter show demonstrators gathering before 10 p.m. in front of the entrance to the Bouffes du Nord theater. The Élysée Palace confirmed to AFP that Emmanuel Macron and his wife were present inside.
We hear these activists chanting slogans such as "Macron resignation" or "General strike". Shortly after, a group of about twenty of them tried to enter the site, and were pushed back by the doors and the police. "We are there, we are there, even if Macron does not want it, we are there", they sing, as we hear on a video posted by reporter Charles Baudry.
🔴 Several protesters are trying to enter the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord while Emmanuel Macron is inside. # greve17janvier #Macron #Paris #EmmanuelMacron #direct pic.twitter.com/JNAihVumbz
- Charles Baudry (@CharlesBaudry) January 17, 2020Around 10:30 p.m., we see a procession come out under high police security, in which Emmanuel Macron is said to have been.
President Emmanuel Macron leaves the Bouffes du Nord theater (Paris, 10th) under tension.
Police charge for the exit of the presidential procession under the whistles of demonstrators against the pension reform. pic.twitter.com/lZBfsVc8oU
Was Macron "exfiltrated"?
Many internet users and some media immediately claimed that Emmanuel Macron had been "exfiltrated". According to the Élysée Palace, the head of state was just "made safe" for a few minutes, before returning to see the play until the end. According to a theater worker contacted by LCI, he would have returned alone, without his wife. On Twitter, the deputy LREM Aurore Bergé also affirms that the head of state "remained until the end of the representation at the Bouffes du Nord", and that he "in no case was exfiltrated ".
The former Elysée councilor and bodyguard of Emmanuel Macron, Alexandre Benalla, replied that "exfiltration has nothing to do with staying until the end or not", but that it was "to go out under protection, being supervised by the police in the ninja turtle version".
Exfiltration has nothing to do with staying until the end or not. It is the fact of going out under protection, while being supervised by the FDO in the ninja turtle version (the opposite of a classic outing with a smile, calm, hand shaking, ...). https://t.co/xhU67DNrQT
- Alexandre Benalla (@benallaoff) January 17, 2020For the anecdote, it was Taha Bouhafs, present at the theater Friday evening, who filmed Benalla attacking demonstrators on May 1, 2018. These images, contextualized by Le Monde two and a half months later , had earned him to be expelled from the Elysee Palace and had given rise to the "Benalla affair".
What was Taha Bouhafs doing in the room?
Journalist Taha Bouhafs had published a message at 8:58 p.m. indicating that he was in the theater, "three rows behind the President of the Republic".
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Some accused him of having called to come and demonstrate. In his message, he does not really launch such an injunction, but he signals to his nearly 33,000 subscribers that "activists are somewhere around the corner and are calling on everyone to come back."
I am currently at the Bouffes du Nord theater (Metro La Chapelle)
3 rows behind the president of the republic.
Activists are somewhere around the corner and are calling on everyone to come back.
Something is brewing ... the evening may be hectic. pic.twitter.com/0mfwQPwdzr
A few minutes later, he posted a new poll message asking if he should "make him a George Bush with my Air force one?" ", Named after a shoe model from Nike. This sentence refers to a world famous scene that took place on December 14, 2008. The Iraqi journalist Mountazer al-Zaïdi threw his two shoes on the American president located a few meters in the middle of a press conference, without reaching him but insulting him.
It was not Taha Bouhafs who first reported on Twitter the presence of Emmanuel Macron and his wife in the theater. At 8:46 p.m., twelve minutes earlier, the account "Comité de strike du 12ème arr de Paris" (much less followed, with only 2,307 subscribers) had already signaled this presence of the Head of State, this time explicitly calling to demonstrate "In front" of the theater. "He makes fun of us," he said in the message, deleted at the end of the evening but whose screenshots were taken.
Journalist Taha Bouhafs was arrested by the police and taken to the police station. Several journalists, including David Dufresne, met at night outside the post office in the 5th arrondissement, and called for support.
#TahaBouhafs inside the police station of the 5th. Paris. https://t.co/nLrONVOix6
- David Dufresne (@davduf) January 18, 2020What are the political reactions?
Unsurprisingly, LREM elected officials denounced this event in chorus, a sign according to them of a "radicalization" of the social movement against the pension reform. In addition to Aurore Bergé, the president of the group of LREM deputies, Gilles Le Gendre, assured that "the perpetrators of these attacks sow violence and discord". He also made reference to the intrusion into the headquarters of the CFDT on Friday afternoon, and to various ceremonies of greeting of members of the majority canceled.
"Unacceptable attempt to intrude demonstrators at the Bouffes du Nord theater," also condemned LREM MP Richard Lioger.
Unacceptable attempt to intrude protesters at the @BouffesDuNord theater where @EmmanuelMacron attended a performance. Interrupting shows, preventing artists from working will never be an acceptable method of protest in a democratic country!
- Richard Lioger (@RichardLioger) January 17, 2020Several LFI deputies, on the contrary, denounced on Twitter the arrest of Taha Bouhafs. “The exfiltrated President of the Republic tastes unpopularity in the capital. Without being able to argue, it requires the repression and the arrest of a journalist ”, for example, asserted the deputy Mathilde Panot.
The exfiltrated President of the Republic tastes unpopularity in the capital.
Unable to argue, he demanded repression and the arrest of a journalist. #LiberezTaha #EndOfRegne
If the head of state did not react himself, those around him wanted to put this sequence into perspective. "What we are witnessing in recent days are fairly classic acts of radicalization at the end of the movement, there have always been violent militant actions at the end of the strike," he told Le Monde.
