Local law enforcement officers in the town of Ganges in southern France confiscated saucepans used by protesters to make noise in demonstrations against Emmanuel Macron, during a visit from the French president on Thursday.
In a video posted on Twitter, a local policeman can be seen seizing a small, round, steel saucepan from a protester.
To justify the pan bust, the officer refers to a ban on “portable sound devices” and “entertainment devices” issued by local authorities ahead of Macron’s visit to a high school in Ganges, in the southern Hérault department.
Asked by Sébastien Rome, a local MP from the leftist party France Unbowed, if he was willing to face the demonstrators during his visit, Macron said he would go “if people are ready to talk.
“If it’s just for the eggs and the pans — at my place, these are used to cook,” he said.
Pans and trowels were also used by crowds of demonstrators to disrupt Macron’s visit to the town of Muttersholtz on Wednesday.
The French president is currently touring the country in a bid for reconciliation with the public after his controversial pensions reform to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 officially became law last Saturday.
Macron gave a speech on national TV on Monday night to defend his widely unpopular plan, in which he said the reform was “necessary” and that he wanted to rebuild French people’s relationship with their work life through “social dialogue” and being “as close to the field as possible.”
