A man has been arrested in Paris for pulling the sword from a statue of Joan of Arc in broad daylight, prompting police action.
The incident took place in January 2026, at Place Saint-Augustin in Paris’s 8th arrondissement, involving the Joan of Arc statue located near the Saint-Augustin church. Erected in 1895, the statue is one of four cast and displayed publicly.
Footage and eyewitness accounts showed the man walking up to the monument and forcefully yanking the sword from the statue before fleeing the scene.
Suspect arrested and sword recovered
French police identified and arrested the suspect shortly after the theft, according to reporting by Le Parisien.
“We see the man violently shaking the horse, before climbing the statue and breaking the sword with a sharp blow, using his bare hands,” Karen Taieb, deputy mayor in charge of heritage, said.
The sword was recovered and is expected to be returned to the statue once any necessary checks are completed, and authorities said there was no indication that the man acted as part of a larger plot or group.
The statue is a recognised public monument commemorating Joan of Arc, the 15th-century military leader and national heroine. A motive for the sword’s removal has yet to be ascertained.
The incident echoes another case of public vandalism that took place in November 2025, when an Australian teen was charged over allegedly sticking googly eyes to a $136,000 (AUD) sculpture nicknamed the ‘Blue Blob’.
