Activists spray black paint over La Samaritaine store

Activists from social justice organisation Attac on Saturday unfurled a giant banner over the headquarters of French luxury group LVMH and sprayed black paint on the storefront of its newly revamped La Samaritaine department store in Paris to protest the growing inequality during the pandemic.

The banner, which featured France's richest man LVMH boss Bernard Arnault, fellow billionaires telecoms investor Patrick Drahi, luxury group Kering's founder Francois Pinault and Francoise Bettencourt, daughter of the late L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, read: "The gang of profiteers".

Activists said in a statement the stunt was intended to protest "the shameless enrichment of billionaires during the health crisis".

Attac is calling for the introduction of taxes on the richest people and the windfall profits of multinationals.

LVMH could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Samaritaine department store reopened to the public on June 23.