Well-known far right-wing activist, 78-year-old Dominique Venner, calmly walked past throngs of tourists visiting Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris today, placed a suicide note on the altar, stuck a gun in his mouth and shot himself to death.
The man pulled out a shot-gun and shot himself through the mouth beside the main altar shortly after 16:00 (14:00 GMT).
He has been named as Dominique Venner, an award-winning far-right historian.
Mr Venner had recently been involved in the campaign against the government's decision to legalise gay marriage.
Earlier that morning, Venner posted a
lengthy essay on his website calling for action against the recently passed marriage equality bill and warned that it could be eventually overturned when Muslims take over control of France and introduce Sharia law.
[Preventing marriage equality] certainly will require new, spectacular, and symbolic actions to wake up the sleep walkers, shake the anaesthetized consciousness, and awaken the memory of our origins. We are entering a time when words must be authenticated by acts. It is here and now that our destiny is played until the final second. And this final second has as much importance as the rest of a life. That is why we need to be ourselves until the very last instant.
We are entering a time when acts must follow words.
In any case in fifteen years the Islamists are in power in France and it will remove this law.
Mr Venner is also a former member of the Secret Army Organisation (OAS), which opposed Algerian independence in the early 1960s and tried to assassinate Charles De Gaulle.
Venner, who made a name for himself in France for his extremist political views, was a presenter on a Catholic-traditionalust radio station and known for his controversial essays and work as a historian. He was heavily involved with the opposition to the marriage equality bill that recently passed in the country.
Many misguided people will see this as an act of martyrdom to the anti-equality movement. I see it as an extraordinarily selfish action. According to all the reports I've read, the cathedral was quite busy at the time with many children witnessing his suicide. It is a very tragic day in the history of this 850 year old house of worship.