Macron files complaint after photographer ‘went too far’

EMMANUEL MACRON has filed a legal complaint against a photographer who he says “breached his right to privacy” by taking holiday snaps of him and his wife in Marseille this week.

The French president has already gone to great lengths to keep the details of his summer holiday private, declining to reveal where he was heading – other than that it would be somewhere in France, just as he had advised other government ministers.

His demand for privacy is in stark contrast to his predecessors Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy. Mr Hollande invited the press to join him on walkabouts in the Cote d’azur, while Mr Sarkozy headed to New Hampshire in the US to stay in a luxury villa.

The word finally got out that Mr Macron was staying in a private villa in the port city of Marseille in the south of France.

Besides the occasional jog along the beach, the president has gone to great lengths to keep his movements private. French media have reported that he has taken private tours around the area during the days, and that he has had his security team ward off paparazzi.

But one photographer has reportedly ignored the warnings and taken to following the 39-year-old president and his wife, Brigitte, on his motor- bike.

The man pursued the president and his wife “on several occasions despite repeat warnings from security staff, and sometimes did so in a risky and perilous manner”, the French govern- ment said in a statement.

Over the weekend, the photographer took it a step too far for Mr Macron’s liking. “On Sunday, he entered the private property [of Mr Macron’s villa] which led to the complaint,” a presidential spokeswoman said.