French President Emmanuel Macron came under fire for attending Elton John’s concert in Paris, as the country was dealing with violent mass protests that involved looting and vandalism in various cities following the killing of a teen boy by police in a Paris suburb.
Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron were at John’s farewell concert in Paris on the second day of the crisis, according to footage shared on social media outlets.
In the footage, the Macrons are seen dancing and enjoying the concert, to the outrage of many people.
"The President of the Republic at the Elton John concert while France is burning," one user said, as others also criticized him for his indifference to the incident, which caused uproar in the country.
Macron and his wife Brigitte also took a photo with the British singer in the backstage.
Police arrested 1,311 people overnight Friday to Saturday, the highest figure since the violent protests began over the point-blank killing by a policeman of Nahel M. in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday.
Shops were ransacked and town halls attacked in various locations nationwide by gangs, often made up of teens organized on social media and armed with fireworks.
The protests over the death of the teen, who was of Algerian origin, have again exposed the severe racial tensions in modern France and increased scrutiny on the police who have long been accused of singling out minorities.
The crisis is a hugely unwelcome development for President Macron, who was looking forward to pressing on with his second mandate after seeing off protests that erupted in January over raising the pensions age.
In a sign of the serious nature of the crisis, Macron postponed a state visit to Germany scheduled to begin on Sunday.
