Macron photo with a T-shirt against police violence sparks controversy

‘We expect something else from a president,’ says union chief.

PARIS — A photograph with a cartoonist turned into a PR disaster for Emmanuel Macron.

Police unions on Friday expressed outrage after a picture of the French president posing with the cartoonist and a T-shirt against police brutality went viral.

"We expect something else from a president,” Yves Lefebvre, secretary-general of the Unité SGP Police-FO union, told BFM TV. The photo is "a mark of distrust and contempt for those who allowed him to remain president thanks to their actions of maintaining order," he added.

Rough handling of protesters by police have made the headlines for months following clashes between officers and protesters during the Yellow Jackets movement and, more recently, marches against the government's controversial pension reform.

The government has long pushed back against accusations of excessive use of force against protesters.

Police officers “are there to protect the French, they are mobilized to do it and they do it, we should all focus on that," Interior Minister Christophe Castaner told the press Friday.

Macron was offered the T-shirt by comic book author Jul, with whom he had a long conversation about police brutality, Le Figaro reported. The T-shirt featured a cat with a missing eye after being hit with shots from a weapon called a Lanceur de balles de défense (LBD), which is banned for use by law enforcement in several European countries but used by the French police.

"I have to defend creativity and freedom of expression," Macron told reporters in response to the controversy. "This T-shirt says something very profound about our country and its freedom of expression."

Hundreds of people have reportedly been injured during protests in France since late 2018. While many police officers argue they're only defending themselves against violence by protesters, David Dufresne, a reporter, has conducted research showing that 25 people have lost an eye, five have lost a hand, and 318 have suffered head wounds.

Philippe Capon, from the UNSA Union, said that "protests have never been more numerous since May 2017, when President Emmanuel Macron got elected."

"The police have unfortunately spent more time maintaining order than devoting themselves to the safety of the French," Capon added.