During a trip to the overseas territory of French Guiana, Emmanuel Macron caught a whiff of something special in the air.
“I still have a nose,” he told a crowd in the capital city Cayenne on Friday night, Sky News reported.
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The crowd laughed as he stated: “So, there are some of you who do not only smoke cigarettes, huh?”
“That will not help with your schoolwork,” he said to onlookers in a video posted on his Facebook page. “You have to tell the youngsters.”
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The light-hearted moment was part of a 48-hour trip to the French territory which ended Saturday.
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A day earlier, Macron had incensed locals when he said that he was not “Father Christmas” and that the French government would not be providing additional state aid.
“The state has made too many promises that have not been kept,” Macron said soon after his arrival, the Telegraph reported. “I’m not here to make grand promises that are hot air. You don’t believe in the promises of Father Christmas. I am not Father Christmas because the Guianese are not children.”
Riots erupted as protestors who threw gas bombs as police were met with tear gas. Two police officers were left injured as five people were also arrested.