Video has emerged of the moment a bodyguard heaved a man who struck the face of French Prime Minister Manuel Valls to the ground, flattening a metal fence in the process.
Mr Valls was part-way through a campaign tour of Brittany in France's northwest when he emerged from a local municipal office to applause from a crowd waiting for him outside.
However, as he came down to greet some of the people waiting he got the surprise of his life as a protester, who had just a second before shook his hand cordially, reached over and slapped him on the face.
In the footage, shot by local newspaper Le Telegramme, the protester is heard yelling "This is Brittany!" as he delivers the blow.
His glory in getting one over a powerful politician was short-lived, however, a member of Mr Valls' security team picking him up by the scruff of the neck and tackling him through a construction fence, knocking it to the ground.
The man was taken into custody.
Newshub.
