The Women's March on Versailles occurred on 5 October 1789 when thousands of women and French National Guard troops marched from Paris to the royal palace at Versailles to confront King Louis XVI of France about food shortages in Paris and his guards' alleged trampling of the French revolutionary tricolor. Jean-Paul Marat encouraged the march after it was reported that his guards stomped on the tricolor flag at a banquet, and the women stormed the palace with pikes, cannons, and fish-scaling knives. The king and his family were forced to return to Paris and leave the royal palace, and they were held as virtual prisoners at the Tuileries Palace.