French lady detained for defaming the president, reports media

Valerie, a French woman from Saint-Martin, is facing jail time for allegedly referring to President Emmanuel Macron as 'trash' on social media. Charged with contempt of a public official, she insists she didn't even mean to describe Macron that way and claims the government is making an example of her. She was arrested on Friday after three police officers appeared at her apartment door, where she was reportedly told she was suspected of writing "Macron ordure" (Macron trash) on a wall in Arques. She was also confronted with a Facebook post from earlier that week, which read, "The trash will speak tomorrow at 1pm, for the people who are nothing, it is always on TV that we find trash." The post was dated the day before Macron was scheduled to give a televised interview to two major French news outlets. Valerie, a French woman, was arrested for insulting President Emmanuel Macron on social media.

She blamed her phone's autocorrect for messing up an attempted play on words, but the police were not convinced. Despite her arrest, she has vowed to continue protesting against Macron's pension reform, which has been unpopular with the French. Amnesty International recently condemned the French government for convicting thousands of people on "contempt of public officials" charges every year, using the offense to quash peaceful dissent even as the Elysee waxed poetic about freedom of speech.