When a man lit his cigarette from the eternal flame at Paris's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, he ignited more than just tobacco—he set off a wave of outrage and an official investigation. Now, French Veterans Minister Patricia Miralles is promising to "make an example of him," she says in a statement. A widely circulated video shows the man crouching to light up at the Arc de Triomphe monument before strolling away as onlookers watch, the Guardian reports. The suspect was arrested Tuesday, the day after the video was posted online, France24 reports.
Miralles called the act a "ridicule" of French remembrance and said she filed a case with Paris prosecutors, hoping to identify the individual and see him face sanctions. "You cannot ridicule French remembrance and get away with it," she wrote on X. She emphasized the flame's symbolic value, stating, "This flame does not light a cigarette, it burns for the sacrifice of millions of our soldiers." The country's interior minister later said the suspect will face charges for "violating a burial site, tomb, urn, or monument erected in memory of the dead."
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, located under the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Élysées, honors all of France's fallen warriors and contains the remains of a soldier who died in World War I. According to French newspaper Le Figaro, a Latvian tourist filmed the incident and posted it on TikTok. The video's spread online sparked widespread criticism, with many calling for consequences.
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