Nicolas Sarkozy is attacked (VIDEO)
Elena Vnorovscaia / Chişinău / Moldova.ORG / -- French president Nicolas Sarkozy was greeting supporters on a routine walkabout yesterday.
But in a moment French President Nicolas Sarkozy was grabbed by a man while meeting the crowds and shaking hands across a crash barrier before attending a meeting of mayors in Brax, near the southern city of Toulouse.
President’s bodyguards then swiftly intervened, arresting the assailant, who was unarmed.
The French newspaper Le Monde identified the man -- who was unarmed -- as a 32-year-old French national who lives in the Lot-et-Garonne region.
Other resources claim that it was a Hermann Fuster, a 43-year-old caretaker. Hermann Fuster is also known as the municipal theatre worker from Agen.
With a powerful tug he grabbed Sarkozy’s suit and pulled the French leader towards the stunned crowd from behind the security fence. Sarkozy begins to lose his balance but catches himself.
Almost forced to the ground, the president, a keen runner and cyclist who follows a gruelling exercise programme, managed to stay on his feet and recoil.
The assailant was quickly tackled by security personnel, detained and questioned in the nearby town of Agen.
When questioned, Fuster is said to have told police he’d “just had enough”. Sarkozy brushed off the incident, saying: “It’s nothing, it’s nothing.”
The Elysée said it would not be pressing charges - which could have resulted in a sentence of up to three years in prison and a £40,000 fine for assaulting a public figure.
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