French PM Lecornu booed by residents on visit to fire-ravaged southwest

Dozens of residents on Monday jeered the French prime minister as he arrived in a region hit by wildfires earlier this summer, in a show of anger over the government's handling of the worst such crisis in France in decades. Some 200 people dressed in black gathered in front of the town hall in Le Porge in southwestern France, where 183 homes burned down when wildfires swept through the Gironde region in late July and early August, at one point even threatening the city of Bordeaux. They jeered, whistled and shouted anti-government slogans as the tinted-window car with a flashing light carrying Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu approached for a meeting with the mayor of Le Porge, Martial Zaninetti, an AFP correspondent said. Read moreThousands of tourists forced to evacuate as fire rages in southwest France "Where is he? Where is he?" the crowd shouted. "It would have been the least he could do" for the prime minister to meet the residents, said Tony Veiga, a 65-year-old pensioner. "It really amounts to treating us as if we don't matter." Lecornu's office said he had spoken with affected residents and farmers. "We have absolutely nothing to hide regarding how fire protection operatio...