Emmanuel Macron goes to Elton John gig as France burns

An Instagram post by Elton John’s husband David Furnish has caused uproar in France where riots have been raging for three days.

A car burns in Paris. (Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)

Although Marie Antoinette’s infamous words “let them eat cake” is lauded as one of the contributing factors of the French Revolution, one thing can be said for the late French Queen...at least she didn’t have Instagram.

French President Emmanuel Macron has been slammed after a photo of him emerged backstage at an Elton John gig as riots raged across France.

The violence started after 17-year-old Nahel M was shot dead by a policeman in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday night.

David Furnish posted this picture to Instagram of Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte backstage with Elton John.

A firefighter extinguishes the flames of a car set on fire during protests in Nanterre, west of Paris (Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)

Rioting continued on Thursday night after a 17-year-old boy was shot in the chest by police at point-blank range. (Photo by Zakaria ABDELKAFI / AFP)

A car burns in Nanterre, where the boy was killed (Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)

Since the fatal shooting, there have been three nights of violence and 667 arrests.

The site of a swimming pool being constructed for the Paris Olympics has been torched, a police station in the Pyrenees city of Pau was hit with a Molotov cocktail and an elementary school in Lille was set on fire.

In Paris, photos were taken of burnt out cars smouldering on Friday after another night of mayhem.

Shops have been pillaged, including the flagship branches of Nike and Zara in Paris.

Around 40,000 police officers have been deployed across the country with curfews now in place in municipalities around the capital.

Luckily the curfew didn’t stop Macron and his wife Brigitte enjoying a night at the Accor Arena in Paris for Sir Elton’s farewell tour performance on Wednesday night.

He was invited backstage where he had a photo taken with the Rocketman and his husband David Furnish.

More than 600 people have been arrested after three days of violence. (Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)

Fires were still burning on Friday morning. (Photo by Zakaria ABDELKAFI / AFP)

Seemingly unaware of the optics, Mr Furnish promptly posted the photo to Instagram with one friend commenting “what a week you’re having!”

A slightly better week than Mr Macron no doubt, who is due to hold another crisis meeting with ministers.

Thierry Mariana, an MEP with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, called the post “totally irresponsible”.

Under the post one user wrote: “France is burning and the president of France is going to the Elton John concert. Macron is below everything.”

“Wrong timing,” another user wrote.

A police officer has been charged with voluntary homocide over death of the Nahel M, a boy of Algerian descent, who was killed at point blank range as he drove away from a traffic stop.

The officer who shot Nahel has apologised to the family and is said to be “devastated”

Nahel’s mother has said she didn’t blame the whole police force - just the officer who fired the lethal shot.

But the teen’s death has revived grievances about policing and racial profiling in France’s suburbs and violence across the country shows no signs of abating.