Emmanuel Macron is protected as he arrives to unveil a stamp at the Post Office while protestors demonstrate by throwing eggs at him, near Paris on June 6, 2016 | Eric Piermon/AFP via Getty Images Emmanuel Macron pelted with eggs by angry mob French economy minister the target of protestors furious at government’s plans to reform labor laws.

PARIS — French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron was pelted with eggs Monday as he visited a post office near Paris, the latest in a series of setbacks for the young minister.

Macron was visiting the office in Montreuil, east of Paris, when he came face to face with a group of workers and Communist Party members furious at his government's attempt to reform labor laws. Protesters threw eggs at Macron and one hit him on the side of the head as he entered the building, Le Parisien reported.

Roger Karoutchi, of the center-right Républicains party, wrote in a tweet that the incident should not have happened.

"I don't support Macron ... But the absence of a mayor in Montreuil for his visit and the egg pelting upon his arrival? This is the spirit of the Republic?" Karoutchi tweeted.

As home base for the hard-left CGT union, Montreuil was a risky destination for a minister who is resented by many left-wingers for his past as an investment banker, and perceptions that he is behind the government's embrace of supply-side economic policies.

But it was not his first run-in with irate protesters. Last week, Macron was filmed by BFMTV having an animated exchange with two workers, losing patience and telling them: "You won't scare me with your T-shirts. The best way to buy yourself a suit is to work for it."

Although the phrase was just one soundbite in a 10-minute exchange, it quickly went viral, prompting dozens of articles and even inspiring a parody Twitter account that has been mocking Macron ever since.

"The best way to make sure you have a good pension is to have an undeclared savings account in the Cayman islands," read one tweet from the @bercyrotschild account, which has 2,709 followers.

A few days later, a 29-year-old teacher posted a video on Facebook in which she attacked Macron. As of Monday afternoon, it had been viewed more than 2 million times.

"So, Macron," said the teacher, who used the name Hélène in the video. "We're going to tell you something: we'd like for you to shut up. Because if you don't, we're going to do just like the unionists did at Air France. And your suit? We're going to tear it off your back" — a reference to airline executives being attacked by angry workers in 2015.

In another boost to critics who want to portray Macron — who worked for the Rothschild bank before joining President François Hollande's cabinet as an adviser in 2012 — as a rich man detached from everyday life, it emerged last week that he would have to pay a wealth tax applicable only to those whose assets are valued at more than €1.3 million.

The 38-year-old minister had argued for more than a year that he should not be subject to the wealth tax, but finally agreed to pay up. Investigative news site Mediapart reported that he would have to pay less than €10,000 on his 2013-2014 tax declaration.

In a country where being rich is not necessarily a plus for a politician, and can often be a hindrance, the tax disclosure and tense street encounters damaged the approval rating of an otherwise popular minister.

A poll by Elabe on June 2 showed Macron's approval score had dropped by six percentage points over the past month to 37 percent, which still made him the second-most popular politician behind center-right presidential candidate Alain Juppé.

Macron launched a political movement in April that could serve as a springboard for a potential presidential bid. But he faces headwinds that range from critical government colleagues to hostile trade unionists, and the reality of having to raise funds for a presidential campaign.