A man in Paris has been arrested for trying to put out the eternal flame under the Arc de Triomphe with a fire extinguisher.

He was caught as he tried to break through a cordon surrounding the flame.

He admitted he wanted to put out the flame, though it is not known why, police said. He was drunk at the time of the incident.

The flame at the tomb of the unknown soldier is one of France’s most revered symbols and honours those who died in the First World War.

The flame has been targeted before several times by drunks and disturbed people.

This is not the first incident of this nature. In 2001, a man badly burnt himself by sitting on the flame and in 2002 a disaffected army official facing retirement tried to urinate on it.

More bizarrely, a few years earlier, a man fried some eggs on the flame before being caught by security.

The flame covers the tomb of an unknown soldier who was killed on one of the First World War battle fields. It was placed under the Arc de Triomphe in January 1921.