A tense commemoration. This year, the May 8 ceremony will have been special. After the adoption of the highly contested pension reform, the social climate is tense. For months, the mobilizations against the text and more generally against the policy led by the President of the Republic have been linked and the situation is getting bogged down.
In the images of the commemoration of the end of the Second World War, Emmanuel Macron appeared isolated in the center of the Champs-Elysées. These images are actually nothing unusual because this celebration is always accompanied by a particularly important security protocol. But this year, it was all the more reinforced in view of the context, which was electric to say the least.
In Lyon, while the chief executive paid tribute to Jean Moulin and the Resistance, thousands of opponents, present despite the prefectural ban, were kept at a safe distance. A device deemed “impressive” and “a little exaggerated” by a witness whose comments were collected by AFP and relayed by our colleagues from La Dépêche.
But another detail also caught the attention of some Internet users. A man in a suit followed the head of state closely as the latter shook hands with the soldiers and then the French one after the other. It was also equipped with a strange briefcase that did not fail to pique the curiosity of some viewers.
He is actually a member of the Elysée security services. But what could the famous briefcase that never left his hands contain?
The briefcase held by the man who closely follows the President of the Republic is in reality completely empty. As La Voix du Nord reports, it is in fact an accessory used to protect Emmanuel Macron.
Used for decades, this small suitcase is bulletproof and can unfold in three parts to serve as a shield in the event of an attack. It is nicknamed the “Jospin briefcase”, because it was useful in 2000 to protect the Socialist Prime Minister of the time during a trip to the West Bank. Lionel Jospin was then taken to task for having described Hezbollah as a “terrorist”.
In addition to this suitcase, the GSPR (Security Group of the Presidency of the Republic) also has other tools to assist them in their mission.
Security guards who follow the President of the Republic can also be equipped with an umbrella. If it is used to cover the head of state in case of rain, it also has other more amazing functions. As Ouest-France reports, it is actually a tool made of Kevlar, a material more resistant than steel, created by the company Le Parapluie de Cherbourg in 2011.
“It’s made for VIPs and we export it all over the world. It is used in particular by the police officers responsible for protecting the President of the Republic.”, explained Charles Yvon, president of the family business, to from franceinfo.
This umbrella resistant to knife blades, wind or even projectiles can thus be used to protect a personality from an animal attack, an acid jet, or even to repel the crowd. In April 2022, he was notably deployed above Emmanuel Macron when he was the target of a tomato jet in Cergy.
