- Title: Macron says people were insulting France during angry exchange in Mayotte
- Date: 20th December 2024
- Summary: PAMANDZI, MAYOTTE, FRANCE (DECEMBER 19, 2024) (AGENCY POOL) (NIGHT SHOTS) MACRON / CROWD PEOPLE IN CROWD MACRON TALKING TO PEOPLE PEOPLE WATCHING
- Embargoed: 3rd January 2025 19:12
- Keywords: Emmanuel Macron France Mayotte
- Location: MAYOTTE, FRANCE
- City: MAYOTTE, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Environment,Europe,Weather
- Reuters ID: LVA003864120122024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: SEE 8675-STORM-CHIDO-MACRON-MOMENT FOR EDIT OF MACRON USING SWEAR WORD IN CROWD AND 8646-STORM-CHIDO/MACRON-REACTIONS FOR LOCAL REACTIONS
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday (December 20) that hecklers in a crowd were insulting France, after he was criticised for saying residents of cyclone-ravaged Mayotte would be in "deeper shit" without the country.
"You are happy to be in France. If it wasn't for France, you would be in way deeper shit, 10,000 times more, there is no place in the Indian Ocean where people receive more help," Macron had told a crowd in the Pamandzi neighbourhood on Thursday night to occasional boos.
In the past, Macron has often got in trouble with off-the-cuff remarks in public that he says are meant to "tell it like it is" but have often come across as insensitive or condescending to many French people and contributed to his sharp drop in popularity over his seven years as president.
Back home, opposition lawmakers criticised him on Friday.
Asked about the comments in an interview on Friday, Macron said some of the people in the crowds were RN political militants, and that he wanted to counter the opposition's narrative that France had been neglecting Mayotte.
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