Outrage as man uses memorial flame at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to light cigarette
A video posted on social media shows a man bending down to light his cigarette from the eternal flame in the French capital, before casually walking away in front of bystanders.
'He didn't appear to be drunk or under the influence of drugs,' the woman who filmed the clip on Monday told Le Figaro. 'On the contrary, he was clearly aware of what he was doing and proud of having done it.
A man identified as Hamdi H. was then arrested in the 17th arrondissement on Tuesday around 6pm local time, local media reported.
The video triggered outrage across France with ministers denouncing the incident as a disgrace to the legacy of fallen soldiers.
'France will never tolerate tarnishing the memory of those who died for her,' Patricia Miralles, the minister for veterans and remembrance, wrote on X.
Located under the Arc de Triomphe, the tomb contains the remains of unidentified soldiers who died in the First World War.
'I am filing a case immediately with the Paris state prosecutors so that this man will be found and sanctions imposed to make an example of him,' she said in a separate post.
France's Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau also condemned the act, describing it as 'shameful and despicable'.
The suspect is believed to be a 47-year-old homeless man, legally resident in France until October 2025, Le Figaro reported.
A source close to the case told the paper that Mr Retailleau will revoke the residence permit of the man, who is originally from Morocco. He remains in police custody as of Wednesday.
He is accused of 'violating a burial site, tomb, cinerary urn, or monument erected in memory of the dead' - an offense punishable by one year in prison and a €15,000 (£13,000) fine.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
11 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Anger, fear and a total rejection of politics: the Palestine Action protest was a snapshot of Britain today
In the third month of this tense, parched summer, the British state is under severe strain. Stripped of resources by 14 years of reckless rightwing government, contorting itself to maintain relations with ever more extreme regimes abroad, expanding its security powers at home through ever more tortured logic, regarded by ever more voters with contempt, a once broadly respected institution is increasingly struggling to maintain its authority. You could see the strain on the faces of some of the police officers, reddening with exertion in the sun, as they arrested 521 people in Parliament Square on Saturday for displaying pieces of paper or cardboard with a seven-word message supporting the proscribed group Palestine Action. It was one of the biggest mass arrests in London's history. The many protesters who refused to be led away had to be lifted off the ground, one by one, without the exercise looking too coercive in front of the cameras. Then their floppy, uncooperative forms had to be carried by clusters of officers through the hostile crowd – to chants of 'genocide police!', 'shame on you!' and 'fascist scum!' – to a ring of police vans at the square's perimeter, which were then sometimes obstructed by further protesters, before they eventually drove away. So many officers were needed that some had come from Wales. When Tony Blair's Labour government introduced Welsh devolution 26 years ago, in times of more harmony and less scarcity, cooperation between the nations was probably not envisaged in this form. On Saturday, so that the capital's police custody system was not overwhelmed, those arrested were taken to 'makeshift outdoor processing centres', the Observer reported – as if during a general breakdown of law and order. Some of those released on bail then reportedly went back to the protest. 'Given the numbers of people arrested,' said the Metropolitan police, 'it would have been entirely unrealistic for officers to recognise individuals who returned to [the square].' 'Entirely unrealistic' is not a reassuring phrase for those who believe that the government's approach to Palestine Action is practical and based on sound law. If charged, those arrested will enter the overburdened criminal justice system and then, if found guilty, Britain's bursting jails. It's likely that further supporters of Palestine Action will follow. The organiser of Saturday's protest, Defend Our Juries, has promised a sustained campaign of 'mass, public defiance', to make the proscription of Palestine Action 'unworkable'. This amendment to the 2000 Terrorism Act – a less benign legacy of Blair than devolution – states that anyone who 'wears, carries or displays an article' publicly, 'in such a way… as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a member or supporter of' Palestine Action could be jailed for up to six months; and anyone who 'invites support for' the organisation could be jailed for up to 14 years. Authoritarianism and austerity have risen together in Britain, as the relatively generous public spending of the Blair years has receded and new waves of radical activism have formed over the climate crisis and the destruction of Palestine. Yet the possibility that austerity will make authoritarianism unaffordable, with too much of the government's funds swallowed up by the security state, does not seem prominent in Labour's thinking. The fact that Keir Starmer is a former director of public prosecutions and that the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has for many years been one of parliament's leading authorities on national security, has given them a lot of faith in law-and-order solutions to political problems. The Parliament Square protesters took a different view. They had been advised by Defend Our Juries not to give quotes to journalists, to avoid distracting from the protest's focus on the Palestine Action proscription and the genocide in Gaza. Yet the dozen protesters I spoke to informally all talked about Britain's police and politicians without the slightest deference, as part of a system that was failing, practically and ethically, to address our era's escalating crises. As the arrests went on and on, through the hot afternoon and into the evening, many of the protesters barely moved, but kept facing the same way, sitting on the ground with their placards carefully displayed and their backs to the Houses of Parliament. Partly, this was to provide a globally resonant image, but it was also to dramatise their rejection of the will of the Commons, where only 26 MPs voted against Palestine Action's proscription last month. Parliament likes to see itself as a historic defender of freedom and liberty, yet when panics about subversive groups are under way, its liberalism often evaporates. While the Commons narrows its views in times of crisis, the electorate sometimes does the opposite. Half of those arrested in the square were aged 60 or older – usually the most politically conservative demographic. Many had had middle-class careers in public service. Chatting among themselves on the grass in the quieter moments between police surges, they could almost have been taking a break between events at a book festival. One woman sat on a camping stool, wearing a panama hat. When I introduced myself, she said: 'I don't like the Guardian, I read the Telegraph.' The last time Labour was in office, opposition to its more draconian and militaristic policies also emerged across the political spectrum. The more rightwing members of this opposition can be questioned: are they as outraged when Tory governments support wars or suspend civil liberties? My sense is not. But either way, broad opposition erodes a government's legitimacy. At the 2005 election, after the Terrorism Act and the Iraq war, Blair still won, yet with almost a third fewer votes than when he came to power. With Labour more unpopular now, Starmer can less afford to alienate anti-war voters – much as his most illiberal subordinates might want to. Yet any electoral consequences from the scenes in Parliament Square, and from likely sequels, are hardly the only things at stake in the Palestine Action controversy. At mid-afternoon on Saturday, with the police cordon tightening around us, I got talking to two elderly protesters who had watched people being arrested beside them. 'I'm in two minds about carrying on with this,' one of them said, opening and closing her piece of cardboard with its illegal message. Defiant earlier, she now seemed frightened. The legally safe space for protest in Britain is shrinking again. Meanwhile in Gaza, there's no safe space for anything at all. Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist
The Independent
41 minutes ago
- The Independent
Nicola Sturgeon says ‘midlife crisis' tattoo may not be her last
Nicola Sturgeon has revealed she got her first tattoo, describing the decision as a "midlife crisis" move, but hinted at future inkings. The former Scottish first minister displayed the new design, located on the inside of her wrist, and suggested it "might not be my last one", adding she has now "got the taste for it". The revelation came during an exclusive interview with ITV News, ahead of the publication of her memoirs, Frankly, later this week. What is Nicola Sturgeon's tattoo of? Ms Sturgeon described the design, which she came up with, as being 'kind of an infinity symbol with an arrow' – adding that stood for 'strength, resilience and continuing to move forward, even when it feels impossible'. She was asked about it when she was questioned by ITV News at Ten presenter Julie Etchingham. Ms Sturgeon said: 'Midlife crisis alert! What it is, is known really only to me, but I'll give you a kind of sense of it. It's kind of an infinity symbol with an arrow, and I came up with the design myself. 'In summary, what it signifies to me is strength, resilience and continuing to move forward, even when it feels impossible. 'And it might not be my last one now that I've got the taste for it.' In the same interview Scotland's former first minister said that she still misses her mentor Alex Salmond 'in some way'. The pair formed one of the most successful political partnerships in UK history however their relationship deteriorated and then broke down after sexual misconduct allegations against him emerged. Following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2020, Mr Salmond was cleared of all 13 charges, which included attempted rape and sexual offences. She said she was hit by a 'wave of grief' after hearing of his death in October last year. Speaking to ITV News at Ten presenter Julie Etchingham, she said: 'Even today I still miss him in some way, the person that I used to know and the relationship we used to have. 'But I thought I had made my peace with it, that I'd got to a point where I felt nothing. 'And then I got a call to tell me that Alex Salmond had died. I started crying on the phone and I just was hit by this wave of grief… and it was complicated because obviously we weren't just no longer friends, we were political enemies. 'There was no prospect I was going to be able to go to his funeral or anything like that and it was a kind of strange, strange feeling.' Mr Salmond went on to become leader of the Alba Party, which became a frequent critic of his former party the SNP. He died suddenly of a heart attack in October in North Macedonia at the age of 69. Ms Sturgeon, who succeeded him as Scotland's first minister in 2014, said: 'At the point he died, I hadn't spoken to him for years. 'I felt really deeply the loss of the relationship with him. I suddenly didn't have him. He wasn't there. I couldn't talk to him. And I went through this period of I would still talk to him in my head. 'I would have vivid dreams that we were still on good terms. And then I'd have this feeling of such sadness when I remembered the reality. 'So, I went through that process. I still missed him in some bizarre way.'
BreakingNews.ie
42 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Teen (17) sent for trial over alleged Dublin pub sex attack and attempted rape
A teenage boy accused of sexually assaulting and attempting to rape a woman in a Dublin pub has been sent forward for trial to the Central Criminal Court. The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Judge Deirdre Gearty at the Dublin Children's Court on Monday. Advertisement He faces two counts of attempted rape and one for sexual assault of the same female on a date last year when he was aged 16. Judge Gearty noted that the Director of Public Prosecutions directed a trial on indictment. Accordingly, she acceded to a request to grant a return for trial order, sending the case to the Central Criminal Court, which has greater sentencing powers. She advised the teenager, accompanied to court by his mother and solicitor Martin O'Donnell, that he must inform prosecutors within two weeks if he intended to use an alibi in his defence. The boy, who did not address the court or indicate a plea, will be notified later of his next appearance date, which will be in the next legal term, commencing in October. Advertisement Judge Gearty also ordered gardaí to provide copies of interview videos to the defence. She also acknowledged the seriousness and complexity of the case as she granted Mr O'Donnell's request to grant legal aid to include junior and senior counsel representation. The boy was remanded on bail with terms set in June. Ireland Inquest into fatal assault of former Limerick spor... Read More At his earlier appearance, the court heard that he made no reply when charged, and there was no garda objection to bail with conditions. Mr O'Donnell said his client had consented to sign on at a Garda station once a week and that he had no contact with the alleged injured party. The teen was also ordered to hand over his passport to gardaí. No evidence about the incident was given in the juvenile court, which does not have the power to accept jurisdiction for the case.
