Authorities in a south-western French town are furious after Yellow Vest protesters beheaded an effigy of Emmanuel Macron with an ax, put its “head” on a stake and danced. Now the mock executioners face a very real criminal case.

Around 90 protesters dressed in yellow vests – the symbol of the recent wave of anti-government protests in France – gathered in a park in the town of Angouleme to stage the mock beheading on Friday evening. It’s not clear if the day was chosen deliberately, but on December 21 French President Macron celebrated his 41st birthday.

The macabre “performance” quickly spread on social networks and in French media, with photos showing the Yellow Vests literally cutting off Macron effigy’s head with a large ax. If that wasn’t enough, the mock head – with a mask of the president’s face – was then placed on a stake. The protesters then proceeded to dance around a burning barricade after apparently setting the rest of the “beheaded” effigy on fire.

🚧 #GiletsJaunes : un pantin à l'effigie d'Emmanuel Macron a été décapité à #Angoulême. La préfecture de Charente dénonce une "mise en scène macabre". (Sud Ouest / Charente libre) pic.twitter.com/hXy97bYddI — .INFOS (@InfosDeFr) December 22, 2018

The incident didn’t go unnoticed by the town’s authorities, with a local prefecture releasing an outraged statement on Saturday. “These events seriously affect both the person and the function of the President of the Republic” and are “likely to be classified as criminal,” it tweeted. Regional prosecutor Jean-David Cavaillé has told Sud Ouest daily that the authorities opened a criminal investigation for “provocation to crime and contempt.”

Many people on social media didn’t get the joke, some even saying that Macron “doesn’t deserve this” and that the Yellow Vest movement has “degenerated” and is becoming “illegal.”

Others, however, criticized the prefecture’s decision to start a probe, complaining over the lack of “democracy” and arguing that the authorities don’t have a sense of “humor.”

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