Old video of French Pres Macron egged viral amid remarks on Islam after teacher’s killing

Recently, a clip of an egg thrown at French president Emmanuel Macron has been going viral. Several users shared the video claiming that the incident is recent. It is being linked to the backlash faced by Macron after his condemnation of the Islamic religion following the murder of a teacher in Paris. On October 16, middle school teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded by a Moscow-born teenager. Macron who had earlier said that migrants arriving in the country would have to respect the French “right to blaspheme” has come out stronger in his criticism of Islam.

A Facebook page named ‘Ilyas Sharafuddin Slave Of Allah’ shared the video and wrote, “An egg was thrown at the French head of state.” This video had received over 89,000 views at the time of writing. (archived link)

Another Facebook page, ‘Sajid Hashmat’, posted the video on October 26, accusing Macron of disrespecting the Prophet. The accompanying caption read, “Kudos to the thrower’s perfect aim.” (archived link)

Twitter user @speedytohike tweeted this clip with the same claim. (archived link)

फ्रांस में इमैनुअल मैक्रोन पर अंडा फेक के मारा गया 👇#फ्रांस_माफी_मांग pic.twitter.com/SEABdAEexh

— Bandit Queen (@speedytohike) October 27, 2020

The video has since been spreading wildely on both Twitter and Facebook. It was also covered by Pakistani news portal Baaghi TV in a report from October 27.

Macron EGGED by a protestor, video went viralhttps://t.co/6xe50u5wlt#International #EmmanuelMacron #Egged #boycottfrance #boycottfrenchproducts #Emmanuel_Macron #TwitterSuspendMarcoAccount @EmmanuelMacron

— Baaghi TV باغی ٹی وی (@BaaghiTV) October 26, 2020

Fact-check

Alt News performed a keyword search and found the source clip on YouTube, uploaded on March 2, 2017. The video description mentions that then-presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron was egged.

We also found a report by the British newspaper Daily Express dated March 1, 2017. It says that Macron came to attend an agricultural show in Paris. He was the Commerce Minister at the time and was contesting the upcoming presidential elections. A few eggs were thrown at him while interacting with the public. His guards rushed for cover and began searching for the attacker.

Russian media outlet Ruptly posted a video from another angle.

 

Therefore, a three-year-old video of Emmanuel Macron egged was shared as recent and falsely linked to the French President’s comments on Islam in response to the Paris beheading.