Far-Right Macron rival aims a gun at terrified reporters – then likens himself to the Queen!
As ‘French Trump’ overtakes Le Pen in polls...
The Queen has been dragged into a row about a possible French presidential candidate who pointed an assault rifle at journalists and told them to ‘back off’.
eric Zemmour, 63, was widely criticised for the stunt at a Paris arms show – but yesterday deepened the controversy by tweeting a picture of the Queen looking down the barrel of a gun.
The image – which Mr Zemmour posted with a love heart emoji – shows her Majesty at the national Shooting Centre in Bisley, Surrey, 28 years ago.
But, unlike the far-Right French TV pundit, the Queen was not pointing the gun at anybody, and she was following all other safety procedures.
This contrasted sharply with Mr Zemmour who mumbled ‘Push up, back off!’ as he pointed the gun at journalists.
The weapon, used by the French police’s RAID (Search, Assistance, Intervention, Deterrence) unit is the PGM ultimata Ratio sniper’s rifle. It is equipped with a scope and can kill
‘Grotesque and ridiculous’
from 800 yards away. France’s citizenship minister Marlene Schiappa was among the many who attacked Mr Zemmour, saying the stunt on Wednesday was ‘not funny’.
‘It is horrifying,’ she added. ‘especially after having seriously said that he wanted to “reduce the power of the media”. In a democracy, press freedom is no joke and should never be threatened.’
Despite such controversies, polls point to Mr Zemmour going head to head with emmanuel Macron during the presidential election in April.
Beyond posting the picture of the Queen, Mr Zemmour has since insisted the gun incident was ‘a joke’. he added: ‘I’m not holding anyone up. There was no political message or threat.’
he called Miss Schiappa an ‘imbecile’ and said her reaction was ‘grotesque’ and ‘ridiculous’. he added: ‘When people attack me, I hit three times very hard. Let them be warned.’
Twitter users mocked Mr Zemmour, with one saying: ‘The Queen has too much military experience and too much class to point a gun at journalists.’
And another wrote: ‘At least [her Majesty] knows where the trigger is.’
Mr Zemmour, who has two convictions for spreading hatred against minorities and blames immigrants for causing all the problems in modern France, has not officially stated that he will stand for the presidency.
Marine Le Pen, of the far-Right national Rally party, was runner up to Mr Macron in the May 2017 election, but her vote could be eclipsed by Mr Zemmour next year. The latest poll suggests he would win 17 per cent of the vote with Miss Le Pen on 15 and Mr Macron on 24.
Mr Zemmour is an admirer of former uS President Donald Trump. he often criticises the ‘fake news’ mainstream media, despite frequently appearing on TV and in print.
Like Mr Trump, he hopes to build a coalition of white working-class voters and wealthy conservatives.
he was born in the Paris suburbs to a couple who fled former French colony Algeria during the independence war there.
his family were Algerian Berbers, and he now identifies as a French Jew, despite frequent poisonous comments about the holocaust, including an extraordinary claim that the wartime Vichy regime – made of up of nazi collaborators – tried to protect Jews. In fact, it rounded up and sent more than 70,000 to the gas chambers.
Mr Zemmour has also attacked feminism, saying ‘virile males’ are key to a successful future. he claims the biggest threat to France is being ‘submerged’ by immigrants – especially Muslims from the same part of north Africa as his parents.