Same as when the world leaders 'joined' or 'led' the Paris march. They did neither.

[Link]

Of course we could argue that it was for safety reasons. I don't hold a view either way other than to say it wasn't as it seemed.

Often when the 'PM interacts with the general public' it's phoney. They want to tell 'us' what we think rather than listen.

An extreme example is the Gore vs Bush recount in Florida. There was a riot during a perfectly legitimate recount that was taking place. It only came out later that far from being local residents, these people were paid, some of them even flown in:

[Link]