BREAKING NEWS

Striking workers give Macron rough reception at factory visit

AMIENS, France - French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron came in for a rough reception on Wednesday from striking workers during a visit to a Whirlpool factory in northern France.
Workers whistled and jostled with Macron's security guards while a burning tire threw a cloud of black smoke across the site when the former economy minister visited the tumble-drier factory in his hometown of Amiens.
A Reuters photographer at the scene reported that some supporters of far right leader Marine Le Pen, who Macron will face in a May 7 runoff vote for the presidency, were mingled with the crowd.
Earlier, Le Pen, who is campaigning on an anti-globalization platform, sought to upstage Macron with a surprise visit to the same factory.
The far-right presidential candidate launched a scathing attack against her centrist rival, calling him "weak" in the face of Islamist terrorism.
"I'm on the ground to meet the French people to draw their attention to important subjects, including Islamist terrorism to which the least we can say Mr Macron is weak on," Le Pen told reporters.
"Mr Macron has no project to protect the French people in the face of Islamist dangers," she said, adding that the run-off with Macron was a referendum on "uncontrolled globalization."