As France picks up the pieces after a weekend of riots, Emmanuel Macron will sit down to a lavish state dinner in Qatar, more than 3,000 miles away.
The French president, who was due to meet the emir of Qatar on Tuesday during a Gulf tour to secure fuel supplies, has rarely seemed so distant from the people on city streets strewn with smashed glass.
He leaves behind a power vacuum that Marine Le Pen is determined to fill after elections in April, which Mr Macron cannot fight after serving two terms.
