There was a crowd of people who were greeting the presidential candidate and he was walking, shaking hands with people as part of his campaign tour. He was accompanied by the Minister of National Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian.
The video shows a young man in the crowd coming forward, shaking hands with Valls and then reaching out to slap him shouting, “This is Bretagne!”
The security officers who were accompanying Valls were quick to neutralize the attacker and arrest him.
With France under an extended state of emergency, the presidential candidate, who is also the former prime minister, is clearly taking his safety very seriously and will not tolerate any sort of bullying as he now wants to take the perpetrator to court, according to Europe 1 radio.
According to the radio, the 18-year-old was arrested for an act of violence against an authorized person of the state. It remains unclear if the act was politically motivated.
However, the sneaky slapper wasn’t the first one to assault Valls. In December, during his visit to Strasbourg, a man threw flour at the former prime minister in front of a restaurant where a meeting with ex-premier supporters was due to take place.
A man rushed at Valls threw flour at him and the people surrounding him, shouting “49.3! Will not forget, will not forgive!”
The minister’s guards rushed forward and arrested the perpetrator moments later.
