Hollande speech interrupted by accidental gunfire from sharpshooter 2 injured prez okay

Map of the LGV fast trains rail network criss crossing France. The fast train between Tours and Bordeaux is in the West of the country.  



On February 28th, the soon to be outgoing French President Françoise Hollande, who was given a brief inaugural speech during the grand opening of a new fast train  TGV "Sud Europe Atlantic" between Tours-Bourdeaux to was Bordeaux was startled by accidental shot from a sharpshooter. The sharpshooter is part of the French gendarme: military police. The shot wasn't malicious intent. But it is a rare mistake by the sharpshooter perhaps caused by shifting the wrong way while in position. Two people were lightly injured but Hollande appears to be okay. The gunfire was more of a brief surprise than anything else to the president and the rail road company audience and media gathered. Ironically, the sharpshooter is assigned to protecting the president. The injured rail road maintenance worker and were taken to hospital. The accidental misfire comes as France has faced month long protests by students and young French against police brutality (there have been onging protests against police brutality going back decades) and an alleged sodomy crime against a youth by a police squad in a Paris suburb.

RT News: Police brutality protests in Paris and across France


Not your Mama's French elections

On top of the protest, France is awaiting its upcoming April 2017 presidential elections pitting far right FRont National's Marine Le Pen against Emmanuel Marcon. After Donald Trump's shocking victory in 2016 US Presidential elections, Europe is bracing for possible upsetting elections that might give birth more far right governments. Macron represents the centre or moderate between the two. Macron's French identity has also been the butt of jokes in the French media since he is less inclined to see France as a monocultural, homogeneous country a la Japan or S. Korea. But more of a multicultural France that was never really a homogenous country to begin with. Fillipe Fillion, a former prime minister is also popular but doesn't have enough votes to make it to the run off elections. Marine Le Pen is also facing ongoing defrauding scandal in which Front National is accused of creating fake jobs garnering finances while Le Pen was EU MP and has been stripped of her EU parlimentary immunity over he own tweets. Le Pen's time in the EU contradicts Front National's anti-EU platform and arguments for France leaving the EU.

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