Campaigning in Bayonne, a town in France’s southwestern Basque region, President Nicolas Sarkozy was booed by hundreds of protesters. The French leader escaped to a café under the protection of riot police.
The president was jeered as he got out of his car heading, to a bar to meet with voters. Protesters mobbed the president, threw eggs and cried insults at Sarkozy, causing him to seek refuge in Bar du Palais. The protesters are believed to be Basque separatists and opposition Socialist party loyalists. People shouted “Nicolas, get out” in the Basque language. Sarkozy's partly blamed the party of his frontrunner rival for the incident. The conservative Sarkozy trails Socialist candidate Francois Hollande, the leader in France's two-pronged April-May presidential election.