PARIS — France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau on Wednesday imposed a harsh penalty on a man who had been caught on camera lighting a cigarette at a war memorial in Paris.
The man, a 47-year-old Moroccan immigrant, is to be stripped of his residency permit in France, the interior ministry announced, after being arrested on charges of violating a war memorial.
The severe penalty comes as rivalries heat up on the right, with Retailleau, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin and others vying for leadership in France in a political context dominated by the far-right National Rally.
This week’s video of the man stooping to light his cigarette at the Unknown Soldier War Memorial in Paris sparked outrage and was widely shared on the internet.
Retailleau blasted the man’s actions as “indecent and pathetic,” while Veterans and Remembrance Minister Patricia Miralles wrote online that “France will never let anyone tarnish the memory of those who have died for it. Never.”
Retailleau, a hardline conservative with political hopes ahead of the 2027 presidential election, has taken a draconian line on security and immigration since he was appointed last September. He wants France to take a much tougher approach toward Algeria in efforts to cut down migration, for example, and to expel more illegal migrants.
The Unknown Soldier War Memorial contains a flame and the tomb of a soldier killed in World War I under the arch of the much-visited Arc de Triomphe.
The man filmed lighting a cigarette at the memorial was arrested on Tuesday and admitted to the offense, several news outlets reported. According to the French daily Le Figaro, he was known to police and had committed past offenses.
The decision to strip the man of his residency rights in France would be a first step toward expelling him back to Morocco.
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