A heavy police cordon was placed around the family macaron shop linked to French President Emmanuel Macron as rioters and looters targeted businesses elsewhere, it emerged today.
Remarkable footage filmed during the worst day of the latest anti-government unrest shows the Jean Trogneux confectionery in Amiens, northern France, surrounded by at least two platoons of CRS officers.
The elite Republican Security Companies positioned their vans directly outside the shop, while other businesses in the area were left without the same level of protection.
The confectionery was founded in 1872 by the father of Brigitte Macron, the president’s 73-year-old wife, whose maiden name is Trogneux.
The family’s chocolate-making business is best known for its macarons, with profits from the popular sweets distributed among relatives who hold shares in the company.
Some ordinary police officers were reportedly angered that they had been required to guard the shop while other businesses remained exposed.
At least 2,000 shops and businesses were targeted during a weekend of unrest across France. Windows were smashed, security grilles were ripped away and stock worth millions of pounds was reportedly stolen.
In a statement posted online on Wednesday, the Alliance Police Union said: ‘Mr Macron, the Republic is not your private property.’
Elite police officers positioned their vans outside the Jean Trogneux confectionery
The Macrons faced criticism over the deployment of significant police resources outside Brigitte Macron’s family business
The union called for an explanation, adding: ‘Remind us, Mr President – do all French people have the right to the same level of protection?’
Le Canard Enchaîné, the respected French investigative publication, reported that the CRS unit had been ‘specifically dispatched to stand guard in front of the shop’.
The business is now run by Brigitte Macron’s great-nephew, Jean-Baptiste Trogneux.
He lives above the premises and was seriously beaten in May 2023 while attempting to defend the shop during protests over pension reforms.
Three men were prosecuted in connection with the attack, with two receiving prison sentences for violent disorder.
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As criticism mounted over claims that the Jean Trogneux shop had received preferential treatment, the Prefecture of the Somme, whose capital is Amiens, moved to defend the Macrons.
Despite the footage, a statement issued on Wednesday said: ‘The Prefect of the Somme denies the allegation that CRS personnel were assigned to protect the Trogneux shop.’
It continued: ‘Several hundred hostile individuals spent nearly three hours attempting to breach the barricades erected to protect the shopping streets in the city centre.
‘As a result, a CRS company was urgently deployed to Amiens that evening to reinforce local officers and ensure the security of all businesses in the city centre.’
The store is now operated by Brigitte Macron’s great-nephew, Jean-Baptiste Trogneux
A fire burns during civil unrest in Paris, France, on October 18, 2026
A man throws a plastic traffic cone through a burning barricade amid clashes during a day of demonstrations against the cost of living and rising fuel prices in Paris on October 17, 2026
When the worst of the trouble started on Friday night, the Macrons were blasted for attending a Céline Dion concert.
The 48-year-old head of state and first lady were filmed dancing at the pop superstar’s concert in the Paris suburbs.
In what many described as a ‘Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette moment’ – in reference to the French King and Queen at the time of 1789 Revolution – they were in a private box at the Plenitude Arena in Nanterre.
A few hours later, thousands took to the streets, and started battles with heavily armed riot police, including the CRS, while igniting fires.
Marie Antoinette is famously meant to have said ‘Let them eat cake’ when she was informed about the chronic bread shortages that helped trigger the 1789 uprising by French citizens, many of whom were starving.
The latest civic insurrection follows weeks of protests by school and university students against France’s crumbling education system.
They have now been joined by numerous other social groups, including the infamous Yellow Vests – or Gilets Jaunes – who have another mass protest planned for this Saturday.
