La Rotonde, Macron’s favorite restaurant, has become the target of protesters’ fury in Paris

Anyone who passed by 105 boulevard du Montparnasse, in Paris, in the first decades of the last century, could have had the privilege of crossing Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway or Salvador Dalí. La Rotonde was one of those spaces in this lively district where the great artists and intellectuals of the early 20th century met to discuss, seated around a table all day with just a cup of coffee in front of them.

Last Thursday, on the 11th day of nationwide strikes and protests against the unpopular pension reform that raises the retirement age from 62 to 64, a group of protesters stormed and set fire to La Rotonde, known for to be Emmanuel Macron’s favorite restaurant and symbol of his presidential mandate. mandate.

Since mid-afternoon that day, protesters have gathered in the area between Boulevard du Montparnasse and Rue Vavin, throwing objects at the exclusive brasserie on the left bank of the Seine. A France Presse reporter saw a group of men dressed in black holding fireworks and throwing rocks towards the restaurant. The fire was caused by a flare launched at the fabric awning, and firefighters had to put it out, the agency said.

“When there are marches and so on, you hear people say ‘Death to La Rotonde, death to Macron’,” Gérard Tafanel, owner of the bistro with his brother Serge, told France Presse. “It happens all the time: anonymous phone calls, people arriving in the middle of the day saying ‘Death to Macron'”.

The red velvet sofas and dim lighting of La Rotonde, a Belle Epoque haunt, have long been favorites of Macron and his wife Brigitte. The former investment banker held strategy meetings there as he prepared to run for president in 2017 and has been known to eat there since taking office.

In a decision criticized as elitist by his opponents at the time, Macron used La Rotonde on April 23, 2017 to house campaign staff and political allies after winning the first round of the presidential election over Marine Le Pen.

This dinner was heavily criticized by certain sectors of French society as they believed the celebration was “disproportionate” due to the price of the menu. Even then-mayor of Lyon and staunch Macron supporter Gerard Collomb justified the celebration by posting the restaurant’s menu on Twitter to show that the prices were average for a major Parisian brasserie and not outrageous.

However, the venue has since come under attack, due to its association with the 45-year-old president.

In 2020, during violent anti-government protests by so-called “yellow vests”, a suspected arson attack damaged its entrance. At the time, the restaurant manager lamented that the 45 people who work at the restaurant were technically unemployed.

In June 2021, La Rotonde was the place chosen by the president to mark the reopening of restaurants in France, after the lifting of the confinement imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic. “Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron dined at La Rotonde to celebrate the absence of confinement”, reported Le Figaro at the time, also describing the space as “a place where the presidential couple has been going for several years”.

Before Macron, the history of La Rotonde was also linked to other personalities in world politics. Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin occupied the red chairs on the esplanade. It was also in one of its rooms, on the top floor, that former French President Françoise Hollande celebrated her victory over Martine Aubry in the second round of the left-wing primaries in October 2011. A year earlier, Macron had chose the location to hold meetings of what has become known as the “La Rotonde group”, responsible for drawing up Hollande’s future economic program, according to France Info.