French President slapped in the face

The scene, which was filmed, shows Macron working a rope line in the town of Tain-l'Hermitage. While shaking Macron's hand, a man is able to slap the president's face before security intervenes.

French media said the two arrested are identified with the yellow vest movement — the mostly white, working-class protests that dogged Macron politically and personally during much of 2018 and 2019.

The slapper yelled, "Montjoie Saint-Denis, à bas la Macronie." Part of the phrase is a 12th century royalist slogan that today has become a rallying cry of the far right. The other part means "down with Macronism."

Several hours afterward, Macron played down the incident in an interview with a local newspaper, Le Dauphiné Libéré. "Everything is fine," he said.

"You have to relativize this incident, which is I think an isolated one. We can't let this take over the public discussion of more important issues which concern everyone's lives."

Macron said the country could not let a few ultraviolent individuals take over the public debate.

"They don't deserve it," he said.

French politicians from across the political spectrum were quick to condemn the attack.

Former socialist President François Hollande tweeted, "To attack a President of the Republic is to give an unbearable intolerable blow to our institutions."

And far-right leader Marine Le Pen called the behavior unacceptable and deeply deplorable in a democracy.

"I am the first opponent of Emmanuel Macron, but he is the president of the Republic," she said in an interview.

"We can fight him politically, but we cannot afford to have to the slightest violence."