“Shame on you, you have blood on your hands”: during a trip to Canada, Emmanuel Macron is challenged by protesters

Emmanuel Macron est actuellement en déplacement au Canada. MAXPPP – JOHN ANGELILLO

On a trip to Montreal, President Emmanuel Macron was heckled by protesters about the conflict in Gaza.

“Shame on you”, “You have blood on your hands”: Emmanuel Macron was sharply heckled this Thursday, September 26 in Montreal by protesters critical of France's position on the conflict in Gaza, noted an AFP journalist. “Shame on you !", “Shame on you !" : the accusations, made by a dozen people, were made as the head of state was leaving a press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

After an exchange with the public waiting for him on the sidewalks, Emmanuel Macron then went to meet pro-Palestinian demonstrators in a melee of journalists and security agents. “It is genocide" that is being committed in Gaza, “you can stop it", “you are offering diplomatic cover" to the State of Israel, chained two of them, including a young Palestinian woman who explained that she had lost her daughter in Gaza.

“France sends money and weapons that kill innocent people”, “we want action”, “you can put pressure on Israel”, they hammered home. The president tried to respond point by point, in English, to the accusations without succeeding in reversing the course of the discussion. “Let's be clear, we are not selling weapons, we are asking for a ceasefire, we went to the Security Council for that,” he argued.

“Real emotion”

“At the same time, we must all work together and decide what we are going to do to engage all the countries in the region to stop the terrorist groups,”, he added. The most virulent protester then replied that the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas was “not a terrorist group but a resistance group”.

“No, what you're saying is unacceptable. They killed hundreds of people,” Emmanuel Macron replied in reference to Hamas' unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7. Exasperated, the young woman finally blurted out: “If you are in power and can't change anything, you must resign!”.

Emmanuel Macron then joined Quebec Premier François Legault a few meters away in a museum in the Old Port of Montreal. “I went to talk to them because there is real emotion in all our societies. We can see it in Gaza, the images there, the drama that is playing out there", he told journalists.

"I understand, I respect this emotion […] Alongside this emotion, there can be a lot of confusion", he added, deploring the "unacceptable remarks at the moment on this subject". "I can't let anyone say anything and everything either", he insisted. At the last stop of his visit to Canada, in front of the French community of Montreal, about fifty demonstrators were still waiting for him, chanting, this time in French, “Shame on you”, “Solidarity with Palestine”, “Macron resign”.