French Protesters Attack Offices of World’s Wealthiest Man

President Donald J. Trump visits and speaks with workers, as he is joined by Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH Moet Hennessy; Carlos Sousa the general manager of Louis Vuitton Manufacturing USA, and Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump, during a tour Thursday, October 17, 2019, at the Louis Vuitton Workshop- Rochambeau in Alvarado, Texas. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

French protesters angry about the country’s pension system overhaul are spreading their disdain beyond government officials to the French elites. Protesters stormed the offices of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company, controlled by Bernard Arnault, who regularly trades places with Elon Musk as the world’s wealthiest person. The Wall Street Journal’s Nick Kostov and Stacy Meichtry report:

Protesters stormed the headquarters of luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE on Thursday as the nationwide protest movement against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension overhaul morphed into a populist rebuke of France’s establishment.

Video footage captured a crowd of men waving flares and banners as they forced their way through the entrance of the luxury group’s headquarters on Paris’s tony Avenue Montaigne. Another video clip shows the crowd proceeding up an escalator to a reception area that leads to higher floors where LVMH Chief Executive Bernard Arnault, the world’s richest man, has offices along with other top executives.

People at the headquarters said the intruders didn’t stay long in the building. Protesters had cleared out of the area by the early afternoon.

Weekly protests have raged across France for months as Mr. Macron has forged ahead with plans to raise the country’s retirement age to 64 from 62 by 2030. The president further inflamed protesters by using his constitutional powers to ram the legislation through parliament without a vote. France’s constitutional council is due to rule on the legislation on Friday.