Sarkozy, Bruni Ban Locals From French Riviera Beach: Report

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni have reportedly banned locals from a popular beach on the French Riviera, according to the Daily Mail UK.

Signs were posted on May 13 reading "No Entry" on the beach frequented by Sarkozy and Bruni, and policemen and cameras have been monitoring the area. Bruni's family has a holiday home nearby, but not their own beach.

Vacationers and residents were told the area was off limits due to falling rocks but they aren't buying it.

One man told Nice Matin newspaper, "I've been going to the rocks around Cap Negre for 20 years to sunbathe, and to enjoy the scenery. I obviously stay on public land and I've never had any problem in the past. But the last time I went I had been there for an hour when all of a sudden a policeman in plain clothes with a gun on his hip, like the Americans, told me to leave."

Some have also suggested that Bruni wants privacy not just to sunbathe in peace, but also because photographs of her and Sarkozy in swimwear are embarrassing.

Comments

[Jamie Schler]

03:42 AM on 06/15/2010

The French are usually not very interested in their politicians' private lives but Sarko pushed his bling and his fancy trophy wife (met and married 10 minutes after all of those farce happy marriage with Cecilia images he pushed in the voters's faces during the presidential campaign) into our faces (I'm an American living in France) and was the first French President to show off his Rolex and his jogging and his lovey-dovey "marriage" and the French are rather fed up with the show. Sarko thought his "public" would be thrilled with his fancy lifestyle and famous friends but they are not. And because he has kept so few campaign promises they get even more upset when something like this happens. It is hard to explain but I think they are tired of his privileged lifestyle is all.

[MIKEinNYC]

09:26 AM on 06/10/2010

The man is the President. Isn't this a security issue?

Our Secret Service would do the same for our president.

[Bafun]

11:40 AM on 06/10/2010

Of course. It's just the hate for this couple from some posters.

[mazaza]

12:33 PM on 06/10/2010

Of course there is a security issue. But the French are very touchy about some privileges and the fact that the whole coastline is public.
Chirac and previous presidents used to vacation at Fort de Brégançon which is an official residence of the Republic or... go bug other vacationeers somewhere else abroad!
Sarkozy is perceived as using his position to enjoy undue privileges.

[AContrario]

02:04 PM on 06/10/2010

It is not a perception, it is a fact...

[AContrario]

09:19 AM on 06/10/2010

La Republique is a democratic system where all French citizens have,theoretically,an
opportunity to be a king or queen for seven years...

[Bafun]

11:31 AM on 06/10/2010

wrong 5 years

[AContrario]

02:03 PM on 06/10/2010

True 5 but it doesn't change the essence of the system :)

Merci pour la correction.

[IndependentBadger]

09:11 AM on 06/10/2010

Why are Americans so insecure about France? They poured out French wine in the streets of DC and renamed french fries "freedom fries". I constantly hear about how the French can't win wars, and references to surrender monkeys, lack of deodorant, and an addiction to Jerry Lewis.

FUN FACTS:

America wouldn't have rescued ANYTHING in the 20th century, if France hadn't fought, financed, supplied, and officered most of our revolutionary war in the first place. There isn't a single major victory against the Brits which didn't involve thousands of French troops. I'v also never met a single French person who even knew who Jerry Lewis was (I guess being under the age of forty has its privileges). And the armpit hair? I can't speak to that, other than being a heterosexual male, which means I'm more attracted to women with curves and hair (you know, signs of PUBERTY), than that whole silicone/cabin boy look most American men profess to love.

Besides, could you see Americans having the class to design something as beautiful as the statue of liberty, and then giving it away for free to a friend?

Yeah, I didn't think so. Vive la France, bitches.

[Bafun]

11:33 AM on 06/10/2010

Thank you from a french woman who shaves and uses deo.

[rtb61]

02:37 AM on 06/10/2010

In a democracy it is wildly inappropriate doe servants of the public to claim royal privilege and deny access to the public to public spaces, as if those public spaces are the property of royalty.
The principles of egalitarianism stand, the arrogance of an elected representative must alwasy be challenged, they are their to represent the public not there to leverage the temporary position for personal privileged and advantage.
Public abuses like this must be challenged and thwarted in every instance that they occur. They are there to serve not be serviced.

[mazaza]

02:42 AM on 06/10/2010

Now, you got some sense!

[Bafun]

11:50 AM on 06/10/2010

I know that your hate for Sarkozy is huge, but be fair, it's not about a public beach but about a path au Cap Negre. Every time a President, from any country on this Earth, has a property anywhere, there are security issues. Mitterand had also his property guarded around the clock and the year and his illegitimate daughter, until her 21st birthday, was protected by the secret services 24/24. And all this on the tax payers money.

[Bafun]

11:39 AM on 06/10/2010

When the US President goes to vacation, he spreads his towel among the others and plashes in the water with the other tourists. This is the difference between the US and other countries.

[KIVPossum]

02:33 AM on 06/10/2010

If you got people around it's difficult to have sax on the beach.

[MIKEinNYC]

10:32 PM on 06/09/2010

I can see the Secret Service in our country doing this for our first family. So why is this so unusual?

[Bafun]

10:48 PM on 06/09/2010

When I read some comments, I wonder if the US President and his family go to the beach, spread their beach towels between the people and plash in the water with the tourists....

[ilovecandy]

11:42 PM on 06/09/2010

They didn't do that when they went to Hawaii. I saw plenty of photos of them in beachwear.

[Aldo Rodriguez]

09:24 PM on 06/09/2010

BOOOOOO! (or as they say in French: Le Boo' !)

[Brett Holmes]

09:13 PM on 06/09/2010

Viva la indifference.

[Lozange]

07:54 PM on 06/09/2010

Deux poids deux mesures with these two. In all things. Psarko is a piece of work, doing what he did to de Villepin and it's coming to bite him in the as* with his retrocommission kickbacks that caused the death of a dozen French engineers in Karachi to cover up his corruption. Sarko and Bruni are the underbelly of what's truly French. Neither one of them actually is French, which explains a lot.

[World Citizen]

02:17 AM on 06/10/2010

Its weird that you don't see the Balladur, Sarkozy, Pakistan, Luxembourg company case in the media here in France. I wonder what's truly up with this...

[b1986]

03:29 PM on 06/09/2010

Do the French only ever compare themselves to us? It seems so.

[Hajnal]

03:34 PM on 06/09/2010

What an ironic comment. It seems it is Americans who have a highly unhealthy fascination with anything French, especially if it is even remotely related with the Sarkozys.

[LiberalLee]

04:49 PM on 06/09/2010

Not really.
He's a mildly amusing little stub, and Bruni's just well, there so to speak.
No big fascination.
But fascinated? no.
Just amused when he pulls one of his ' little man rants".

[b1986]

08:24 PM on 06/09/2010

Well we do like a lot of things French despite what you may see or hear on Fox News. We like the Sarcozy's but I wouldn't say we are fascinated by them.

[Paralogos]

05:24 PM on 06/09/2010

As a US/French dual national, I can reply that the French are constantly comparing themselves to other nations, usually with an eye to feeling superior on some axis. But I think you and some others here are misinterpreting the comment from the local gentlemen who complained about the police closing off the public beach. Outside the UK, police in Europe are generally armed, sometimes with heavier weapons than one sees in the US outside SWAT teams, but it's very, very unusual to see anyone packing a side-arm who isn't in uniform. It seems "American", because the only referent for such a sight is Hollywood movies and TV shows.

[Wozzeck]

03:16 PM on 06/09/2010

Another trivia article about Sarkozy, while refusing to run an article about his alleged involvement in the bribe deal which resulted in the death of a dozen French engineers.

[Paralogos]

05:17 PM on 06/09/2010

The Sarkozys are part of AH's social milieu - or at least she'd like them to be. A pity, because he really is a nasty, corrupt little piece of work. And I say that as a French national who has watched his rise to power over the past 20 years.

[Julie Zhou]

02:43 PM on 06/09/2010

Why not simply call them kings and queens?

[Hajnal]

03:07 PM on 06/09/2010

Well spoken.

[nomadsborker]

01:50 PM on 06/09/2010

I had been there for an hour when all of a sudden a policeman in plain clothes with a gun on his hip, like the Americans, told me to leave."


WTF, has this moron ever even met an American? Everyone knows that we only carry concealed weapons. Carrying on the hip is so 70's Starsky & Hutch - Barney Millerish.

[Try the truth]

02:20 PM on 06/09/2010

Maybe you should check out your regular beat cop!

[LiberalLee]

04:50 PM on 06/09/2010

Who are NOT plains clothes detectives.

[KIVPossum]

05:13 PM on 06/09/2010

Lot of places every cop doesn't walk around with a gun. Our police carry a night stick, about half have handcuffs. None have mace or tasers. It is rare you see a gun - then it would be maybe 1 in ten cops at a major street fair, game, or mass gathering.

[jasev01]

01:18 PM on 06/09/2010

haha funny little french man I like him.