Featured

The Louvre Burgled In ‘Very Professional’ Hit, Jewelry Of French Royalty Stolen

A band of thieves broke into the Louvre Museum in Paris on Sunday, making off with elegant and historically significant pieces of jewelry of “incalculable” value, France’s interior minister said.

In a heist that lasted seven minutes, a group of thieves used a motorized lift on a side of the museum that is under construction to rise above the ground floor. They entered the museum through a window using a glass cutter, according to the BBC.

Once inside, the thieves threatened security guards, who left the area, before breaking into display cases, grabbing the jewelry, and fleeing the scene on two scooters. Nobody was harmed in the heist, which French Culture Minister Rachida Dati described as “very professional.”

The stolen items were from the museum’s Apollo Gallery, which houses the crown jewels of past royals of France. The thieves snatched tiaras, earrings, and other items that together contain thousands of diamonds and other jewels.

The stolen items include a tiara, decorative bow, and brooch from Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III. The tiara alone includes 212 pearls, 1,998 diamonds, and 992 rose-cut diamonds, according to The New York Times.

A sapphire set consisting of a matching tiara, necklace, and earrings were also stolen. The set is of unknown origin, but was worn by royals such as Queen Hortense, the wife of Louis Bonaparte. Queen Marie-Amélie, the wife of Louis Philippe I, also wore the set. The pieces together include 24 Ceylon sapphires, which only come from Sri Lanka, and 1,083 diamonds.

The bandits also made off with an emerald and diamond necklace presented by Napoleon to his second wife, Marie Louise, as a wedding gift for their marriage in 1810. The necklace includes 32 emeralds and 1,138 diamonds. Included in the Louvre’s set was also a pair of matching earrings that the thieves also stole.

French President Emmanuel Macron pledged in a post on social media that the jewelry would be recovered and the thieves brought to justice. He also said a new “renaissance” project to update the Louvre includes updates that have strengthened the museum’s security.

Source link

Related Posts

On April 12, 2021, a Knoxville police officer shot and killed an African American male student in a bathroom at Austin-East High School. The incident caused social unrest, and community members began demanding transparency about the shooting, including the release of the officer’s body camera video. On the evening of April 19, 2021, the Defendant and a group of protestors entered the Knoxville City-County Building during a Knox County Commission meeting. The Defendant activated the siren on a bullhorn and spoke through the bullhorn to demand release of the video. Uniformed police officers quickly escorted her and six other individuals out of the building and arrested them for disrupting the meeting. The court upheld defendants’ conviction for “disrupting a lawful meeting,” defined as “with the intent to prevent [a] gathering, … substantially obstruct[ing] or interfere[ing] with the meeting, procession, or gathering by physical action or verbal utterance.” Taken in the light most favorable to the State, the evidence shows that the Defendant posted on Facebook the day before the meeting and the day of the meeting that the protestors were going to “shut down” the meeting. During the meeting, the Defendant used a bullhorn to activate a siren for approximately twenty seconds. Witnesses at trial described the siren as “loud,” “high-pitched,” and “alarming.” Commissioner Jay called for “Officers,” and the Defendant stated through the bullhorn, “Knox County Commission, your meeting is over.” Commissioner Jay tried to bring the meeting back into order by banging his gavel, but the Defendant continued speaking through the bullhorn. Even when officers grabbed her and began escorting her out of the Large Assembly Room, she continued to disrupt the meeting by yelling for the officers to take their hands off her and by repeatedly calling them “murderers.” Commissioner Jay called a ten-minute recess during the incident, telling the jury that it was “virtually impossible” to continue the meeting during the Defendant’s disruption. The Defendant herself testified that the purpose of attending the meeting was to disrupt the Commission’s agenda and to force the Commission to prioritize its discussion on the school shooting. Although the duration of the disruption was about ninety seconds, the jury was able to view multiple videos of the incident and concluded that the Defendant substantially obstructed or interfered with the meeting. The evidence is sufficient to support the Defendant’s conviction. Defendant also claimed the statute was “unconstitutionally vague as applied to her because the statute does not state that it includes government meetings,” but the appellate court concluded that she had waived the argument by not raising it adequately below. Sean F. McDermott, Molly T. Martin, and Franklin Ammons, Assistant District Attorneys General, represent the state.

From State v. Every, decided by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals…

1 of 83