France’s distinguished newspaper of record, Le Monde, has been forced to apologise for a magazine cover that provoked outrage by appearing to draw a visual parallel between President Emmanuel Macron and Adolf Hitler.

The cover of Le Monde’s Saturday magazine featured a black-and-white photograph of Mr Macron, with an image of “yellow vest” protesters surging towards the Arc de Triomphe.

Horrified readers expressed indignation on social media, pointing out its similarity with a Harper’s Magazine cover in July last year that pictured Hitler, overlaid with a crowd performing the Nazi salute.