French President Emmanuel Macron has been caught on camera admonishing a teenager who called him “Manu”.
The premier shook hands with people in a crowd during a visit to Mont Valerian Fort near Paris, where hundreds of French Resistance members were executed during the Second World War.
In footage of the event, a teenager in the crowd sings part of socialist anthem “The Internationale”, in an apparent jibe at the president’s pro-business policies.
He then uses a diminutive word for Mr Macron’s first name, asking him: “How’s it going, Manu?”
Mr Macron stops and responds: “No, you can’t do that, no, no, no, no.”
“Sorry, Mr President,” the teenager responds.
The French premier then says: “You’re here, at an official ceremony and you should behave. You can play the fool but today it’s ‘the Marseillaise’, ‘the Chant des Partisans’, so you call me ‘Mr President’ or ‘sir’. Okay? There you go.”
The “Chant des Partisans”was a song of the French Resistance during the occupation by Nazi Germany.
Mr Macron continued: “Call me ‘Mr President of the Republic,’ or ‘monsieur’.”
“The day you want to start a revolution, you study first in order to obtain a degree and feed yourself, okay? And then you can lecture others,” he said.
Mr Macron tweeted a video of the discussion, prompting a flood of comments on Tuesday. Some applauded the French leader’s demand for respect, while others criticised what they saw as his arrogance.
Associated Press contributed to this report
