The most famous newspaper in France has been forced to apologise after publishing a dramatic image of President Emmanuel Macron looking like Adolf Hitler.

Le Monde is running the picture of the 41-year-old head of state in its latest weekend magazine 'M', causing shock and outrage.

It shows a stern-looking Macron looking just like the Nazi dictator, as images of crowds on the Champs Elysee in Paris are beamed on to his jacket.

On Sunday, Le Monde's editorial director Luc Bronner said: 'The cover of Le Monde's M magazine dated Saturday December 29 has provoked critical reactions from some of our readers. We apologise to those who were shocked.'

Le Monde's editorial director has apologised for any 'shock' after their weekend magazine M published a picture of President Emmanuel Macron (left) on their front page looking like Adolf Hitler (poster right)

Mr Bronner claimed the image was in fact inspired by 'Russian constructivists' who liked 'black and red' – the favoured Nazi colours – and the Canadian illustrator Lincoln Agnew.

But others accused Le Monde of likening Mr Macron to a ruthless German dictator, as the Frenchman dealt with security threats including the Yellow Vests protest movement.

The Yellow Vests have been protesting on the Champs Elysee for the past seven Saturdays, sparking riots and the desecration of national monuments including the Arc de Triomphe, which is depicted in the Le Monde cover.

In turn, Mr Macron has flooded his capital city with thousands of police, water canons, and armoured cars equipped with chemical weapons such as tear gas.

Officers have been accused of being too heavy handed, beating demonstrators with truncheons and throwing flash balls at their heads.

Demonstrators wearing yellow vests hold photos of people they say are victims of police violence in recent weeks as they walk through Biarritz, southwestern France, today

French riot police officers stand on the Trocadero plaza in Paris (left) last night as people also protest in Bordeaux (right) on the seventh weekend of demonstrations

A gilets jaunes anti-government demonstrator holds up the French flag as he stands infront of a fire during protests in the western French city of Bordeaux yesterday

Condemning Le Monde's cover, National Assembly president Richard Ferrand, a close Macron lieutenant, said the 'graphic and iconographic references…cannot be there by chance.'

The Nazis occupied Paris between 1940 and 1944, and marched up and down the Champs Elysee most days with a military band.

Hitler himself loved the French capital, visiting all the major tourist attractions in 1940, and paying tribute to Napoleon Bonaparte at his tomb in Les Invalides.

Many French welcomed the Nazis, assisting them in the Second World War Holocaust in which some 70,000 Jews were murdered.

The independent Mr Macron, leader of the Republic On The Move party, won the French presidential election by a landslide in May 2017, but he is now dubbed the 'President of the Rich' by many.

People also call him 'Jupiter' because of his allegedly arrogant style of government – one which has seen close ministerial allies resigning.

Hitler (pictured in front of the Eiffel Tower in 1940) loved the French capital and visited all the major tourist attractions

The Nazis occupied Paris between 1940 and 1944. Pictured are German troops riding on horseback with the Arc De Triomphe visible behind them

Recent polls have showed his popularity rating down to as low as 18 per cent, while he has been struggling to cope with the Yellow Vests crisis.

Despite concessions including abandoning green surcharges on the price of diesel and petrol, protestors are still calling on Macron to resign, and have threatened to stage a mass protest on the Champs Elysee on New Year's Eve.

The movement began on November 17 as a protest over fuel taxes and is named after the fluorescent protective gear French motorists must keep in their cars.

The official turnout numbers have plunged with the passing weeks however the government still recorded 38,600 demonstrators on December 22 compared to 282,000 for the first major demonstrations on November 17.

The focus of the protests has morphed from anger over fuel taxes to a broad rebuke of Macron, accused by critics of neglecting the rising costs of living for many in rural and small-town France.

Yesterday Yellow Vests set cars alight and left them to burn in Paris and the Eiffel Tower was shrouded in thick black smoke, after riot police fired tear gas at crowds.