Police officers run towards youths after a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Demonstrators shout slogans to police officers after a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. (AP Photo / Christophe Ena)

Police officers arrest a demonstrator after a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. (AP Photo / Christophe Ena)

Leftist union SUD railway official Christian Mahieux is seen at the start of a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. Trains, planes, schools, hospitals and the mail are hobbled across France as unions join in a day-long strike meant to send a blunt warning to President Nicolas Sarkozy to better defend jobs and buying power despite the global economic crisis. (AP Photo / Thibault Camus)

Several thousand workers demonstrate during a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. (AP Photo / Christophe Ena)

Several thousand workers demonstrate during a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. Placards read, left : "Education asphyxiated", and, above a cartoon of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, "Reform of the Professional Baccalaureat diploma = Zero". (AP Photo / Christophe Ena)

People demonstrate, one carrying a banner reading "On strike", during a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. Trains, planes, schools, hospitals and the mail are hobbled across France as unions join in a day-long strike meant to send a blunt warning to President Nicolas Sarkozy to better defend jobs and buying power despite the global economic crisis. (AP Photo / Thibault Camus)

Employees of the French public hospital march as several thousand workers demonstrate during a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

A man holding a placard reading "Unemployment, failure...Sarko", referring to French president Nicolas Sarkozy's job policy, demonstrates during a protest march in Lille, northern France, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. (AP Photo / Michel Spingler)

A demonstrator wears a mask of French president Nicolas Sarkozy during a protest march in Lille, northern France, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. (AP Photo / Michel Spingler)

People demonstrate during a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. Trains, planes, schools, hospitals and the mail are hobbled across France as unions join in a day-long strike meant to send a blunt warning to President Nicolas Sarkozy to better defend jobs and buying power despite the global economic crisis. (AP Photo / Thibault Camus)

Several thousand workers demonstrate during a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. The banner reads : "Withdrawing". (AP Photo / Christophe Ena)

Several thousand demonstrators gather on Bastille square during a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

An employee of Inrap, the National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research, takes part to a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. The inscription on the placard reads : "Archeology, the weapons of wrath". The July Column, that commemorates the events of the July 1830 revolution, is seen behind on Bastille square. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Demonstrators gather in font of the Opera house, ending a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

French police officers stand next to a destroyed car after a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Demonstrators gather in front of the Bastille Opera house during a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. The poster advertising the opera's current show, "Lady Macbeth of Mzensk" by Russian composer Dimitri Chostakovitch in 1934, is seen above, as the banner reads "Paris Opera houses on strike". (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

A demonstrator and his dog take part to a protest march with several thousand workers in Lyon, central France, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. The inscription on the demonstrator's jersey reads : "Stop the Democratic breakage", and on the dog "Get lost, you total jerk", refering to French president Nicolas Sarkozy's answer to a man who refused to shake hands at a Paris trade fair in February 2008. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Workers use flares during a protest march in Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. Trains, planes, schools, hospitals and the mail are hobbled across France as unions join in a day-long strike meant to send a blunt warning to President Nicolas Sarkozy to better defend jobs and buying power despite the global economic crisis.(AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Protestors wave a flag and burn a flare as several thousand demonstrators gather in font of the Opera house during a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Demonstrators face to face with French police officers after a protest march in downtown Paris, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

A demonstrator wears a mask of French President Nicolas Sarkozy during a protest march in Lille, northern France, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. French workers fearful about the global economic crisis held a nationwide strike Thursday, shutting down train and subway lines, reducing staff at hospitals and leaving millions of schoolchildren without teachers. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)

To jeer President Nicolas Sarkozy has become a serious offence, punishable by the sacking of any official who allows the boos to reach the presidential ears.

The police chief and the most senior national government official in the Manche département (county) of lower Normandy have been fired in successive days, to the fury of local politicians, including members of M. Sarkozy's own party.

The officials' offence was to fail to shield the President from the boos and whistles of protesters when he made a speech in the town of Saint-Lô earlier this month. Their dismissal has fuelled a debate about President Sarkozy's increasingly autocratic behaviour. Two high-profile ministers from ethnic minorities, appointed by M. Sarkozy to much fanfare in 2007, have been placed in the political deep-freeze by the President in recent weeks. Last year he ordered the firing of a successful Corsican police chief after nationalist protesters had invaded the garden of his friend, the actor Christian Clavier.

The latest victims of presidential pique are two recently-appointed officials who had overall responsibility for public order when M. Sarkozy visited lower Normandy to speak on education reform on 12 January. About 3,000 demonstrators protested. M. Sarkozy was furious the demonstrators had been allowed to come so near that he could hear them faintly.

He was heard to say at the time: "Quel con, ce préfet." (What an a***hole, this prefect is.) A prefect is a governor appointed by the state to oversee the administration of each département. On Thursday, it was announced that the prefect of the Manche département, Jean Charbonniaud, was being moved to another job.

Yesterday it emerged that the director of police in the Manche, Philippe Bourgade, had also been told to "look for another post". M. Bourgade, less than two years into his job, was France's most successful provincial police chief according to a system of statistics M. Sarkozy introduced. Interior Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie admitted the officials were fired for "making arrangements which failed to meet the importance of a situation".

The sackings have been greeted with unusual fury by senior local members of M. Sarkozy's centre-right party, the UMP. "It is lamentable if representatives of the state are being treated like Kleenex. It's scandalous," said Jean-François Le Grand, UMP head of the Manche county council.

The fired police chief, M. Bourgade, 59, said: "What was so terrible about what happened? The President heard a few whistles, that's all."

Belfast Telegraph