French President Emmanuel Macron faces backlash after spotted partying days before strikes in France

French President Emmanuel Macron recently made a tour of African capitals, his 18th visit to the continent. However, he is now facing backlash for what he was spotted doing right before he was due to return to France.

Emmanuel Macron slammed for partying before strikes

On Saturday 4 March, Macron was spotted drinking beer and having a good time at a nightclub in the commune of Bandalungwa, a municipality in Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At one point, he was accompanied by Fally Ipupa, a famous Congolese singer-songwriter.

Multiple videos of the evening have been shared on Twitter, with people outraged that the French President was seemingly carefree and enjoying himself right before France is due to see nation-wide strikes on Tuesday 7 March. The strikes are in response to Macron's proposed pension reform.

Twitter account Radio Geneva wrote:

While tomorrow 70 million French will strike to the bitter end against the pension reform, Macron gets drunk at a party in Africa. If the French catch him tomorrow, they'll take him to the Bastille.

User Lord Dakar tweeted:

So this Tuesday 7 March in your country France, there may be one of the biggest national strikes in French history but Emmanuel Macron is in a nightclub in Congo.

Twitter user Lucie wrote:

Emmanuel #Macron in #Kinshasa. 48h before the #GreveGenerale, this selfie is a major political mistake... Our #diplomacy is rolling towards the abyss.

Account BrunoLP30 Traduction articles said:

Before leaving Africa, French President #Macron shows off in a nightclub... No other head of state degrades his office in this way and makes a fool of his country in the eyes of the world. It's appalling, no manners, no dignity.

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While user AlexNoMatrixé tweeted:

While France is going badly ... #Macron has a blast in a #Africa nightclub, beer in hand, it's a party

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Not the first time Emmanuel Macron has been in trouble

The French President has been accused of indifference before. His management of the gilets jaunes protests at the end of 2018 and in early 2019 was described as 'chaotic' and 'insufficient'.

The first protest took place on 17 November 2018, but Macron didn't publicly condemn the violence of some demonstrators until two protests later, on 24 November (via Twitter). It wasn't until 27 November, 10 days later, that his government announced measures in an attempt to ease tensions. And it was only on the 10 December, almost a month later, that Macron finally addressed the French people directly in a televised speech.

Far-right politician Marine Le Pen, who faced off against Macron in two Presidential elections, once compared him to 'a stubborn boy, who refuses to listen to what the people tell him'. Similarly, politician Benoît Hamon tweeted, 'by his unjust politics and his deafness to the anger of the French people, Emmanuel Macron has sown chaos'.

How the French President will manage this new crisis remains to be seen.

Sources used:

Twitter

radiofrance: 'Macron et les "gilets jaunes" : cinq mois de gestion de crise chaotique'

The New Yorker: 'The gilet jaunes and a surprise crisis in France'