On Saturday 17 October, France was once again the scene of chaos. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets to loot, set fires, commit acts of violence and cause damage. Two images from that day have stuck in the mind.
The first shows an elderly couple in their eighties. They are standing stripped of their clothes on a street in Paris; everything has been taken from them – their dignity, their clothes and their bags – they have been allowed to keep only their underwear. They were robbed by the ‘enriching’ multiculturalism near the Place de la République.
Whilst luxury shops such as Louis Vuitton, Hermès and Dior were ransacked, and town halls and tourist offices were burnt to the ground, this couple remained as a tangible human symbol of defeat: society is no longer capable of protecting its own.
For me, this is the most horrific image of 17 October:
An octogenarian couple stripped of everything, in the middle of the street, left half-naked.
As if the looted Rolexes, Louis Vuittons, Hermès, Diors and Sephora products weren’t enough to resell.The image that should be a… pic.twitter.com/EFngqeBWdI
— Ô.Mercedes (@DolceVenezia74) 18 October 2026
The second photograph shows President Emmanuel Macron. On the evening before the announced attack on the French nation, on Friday 16 October, he took his wife Brigitte to a Céline Dion concert in Nanterre, where they danced and sang along.
The following day, France was ablaze. Shops were looted, cars were set alight, the police were attacked, and a historic town hall in Limoges was reduced to ashes. Macron later came out with a clichéd mantra: ‘There is no place for violence in the Republic.’
Macron at a Celine Dion concert as France burns to the ground. pic.twitter.com/sMo6Dpxwsl
— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) 17 October 2026
The photograph of the presidential couple in the concert box has already done its job. It speaks of distance, of an elite living in a reality of their own, whilst the people live with the consequences of their reality.
The two images go hand in hand: the victims and the absence of accountability. The country’s highest representative was eating cake with his Marie Antoinette whilst the country was under attack. If these images are remembered, it is because of their truth.
