New hiccup for Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The former presidential candidate has come under fire in recent days for his reaction to the Adrien Quatennens affair.
On Twitter, he had praised Sunday "the courage and dignity" of the deputy from the North who had just admitted having slapped his wife, renewing his "confidence" and his "affection".
This Thursday, the Insoumis leader was questioned by a journalist from "Quotidien" in front of the National Assembly, where he was going to the parliamentary days of his party.
To the question "do you regret the tweets you posted?"
“, Jean-Luc Mélenchon retorted that he weighed his” words all the time “.
"It's you who regret what you're saying," he continued against the journalist of the TMC show, before giving him a pat on the cheek.
Read also“Everyone was in awe”: in the Quatennens affair, Mélenchon also shocks his people
A gesture that quickly reacted on social networks, given the context – it is precisely a slap that Adrien Quatennens admitted to having given.
Many journalists were moved by an "unbearable" movement.
The political class did not remain unmoved either.
“Decidedly, in France Insoumise, they have the handrail”, for example amused the former deputy RN Gilbert Collard.
Bompard's defense
MEP Reconquête Jérôme Rivière denounced a "condescending little slap", when the Renaissance du Rhône MP Thomas Rudigoz felt that the Insoumis leader "demeaned (had) journalists" and added "every day violence in the public debate" .
The deputy of Cher, François Cormier-Bouligeon, also from the Renaissance group, wondered “in which democracy do we accept that a political leader treats a journalist in this way”.
"Obviously it's even him who learns to slap," he quipped.
Watch carefully until the end: not only does @JLMelenchon not regret his support for #Quatennens but obviously it is even he who teaches him to slap.
In which democracy is it acceptable for a political leader to treat a journalist in this way?
Support for @Qofficiel!
https://t.co/uy9QAJ10AH
– François Cormier-Bouligeon (@FCBDeputeduCher) September 22, 2022
For his part, LFI deputy Manuel Bompard instead tried to defend Jean-Luc Mélenchon, sharing on Twitter a photo of Emmanuel Macron placing his hand on the cheek of the former Burkinabe president (a gesture which had caused controversy at the era).
"You forgot to denounce Macron's violent slap", he replied to a journalist from Le Figaro who denounced the "gesture of intimidation par excellence".
And you said nothing about #Macron's violent slap on Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.
What a regrettable omission!
pic.twitter.com/kR0p4x4cgp
— Manuel Bompard (@mbompard) September 22, 2022
"And you said nothing about Macron's violent slap on Prime Minister Édouard Philippe," added Manuel Bompard, still on the social network.
