A French minister has announced legal action against an unidentified man seen lighting a cigarette from the eternal flame at Paris’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The video, widely shared on social media, shows the man bending down to use the memorial flame beneath the Arc de Triomphe before casually walking away as tourists look on. The act sparked public outrage.
Patricia Miralles, France’s minister for veterans and remembrance, stated on X: “I am immediately filing a complaint with Paris prosecutors to ensure this man is identified and punished as an example. You cannot mock France’s remembrance and go unpunished.”
The tomb, located beneath the arch at the top of the Champs-Élysées, holds the remains of a soldier killed in World War I and honors all French war dead.
“This flame does not light cigarettes—it burns in tribute to the sacrifice of millions of our soldiers,” Miralles said. “This is an insult to our fallen, our history, and our nation.”
The origin of the video remains unclear, though Le Figaro reported it was filmed by a Latvian tourist on the evening of August 4 and first posted on TikTok.
