Two days have passed since the chaos and looting events of last Saturday, but on Monday (October 19th), walking on Rue Beaurepaire in Paris, the smell of burnt things still lingers in the air.
Aline Li, an immigrant from Zhejiang, saw her French-style boutique La Barrique burned by rioters last Saturday (17th). It was a small shop that housed a café, bar, and tobacco shop all in one.
On Monday, she watched workers boarding up the burned shop. With scars from the Saturday attack still on her face, she greeted the visiting residents with a smile, saying, “I am okay, what matters is that you are safe too.”
On Sunday (18th), the heartbreaking scene of Aline Li standing in front of the burned bar with tears streaming down her face was reported by major French media. She is one of around 3,000 businesses affected by the looting across France.
This is the most serious urban unrest in France in recent years, with the government acknowledging post-event intelligence errors that hindered the police response.
Around 2:30 pm last Saturday near Republic Square in Paris, a skincare brand’s shop window was smashed, and looters threw cosmetics at dozens gathered outside the store. They also ransacked a telecom store and threw phones at the crowd.
Aline Li mentioned that upon witnessing the protest turning into violence, she and her family quickly moved the tables and chairs outside and pulled down the metal shutters.
Just when they thought they could safely stay inside the bar to weather the chaos, they heard someone shout the next target was the tobacco shop. The rioters then lifted the metal shutter and started smashing windows while attacking those inside the shop.
Aline Li expressed that they were helpless at that time, only able to watch as they were robbed.
What shocked her even more was the presence of children among the looters. She told the media outside the shop on Sunday that the first one to start looting was a child estimated to be around 12 years old. Eventually, the shop was set on fire by the rioters.
Also targeted for looting was a pharmacy on the same street. The owner, Audelia Sitbon, mentioned, “I had a patient whose 13,000 euros (about $14,000) worth of medication was in the fridge that got burned… He was waiting to pick up the medication… and many people needed those meds.”
She noted that the police were completely incapable of handling the unrest when they contacted them for help, stating, “When we called the police, they said they couldn’t do anything.”
According to witnesses and authorities, last Saturday in several cities across France, while people protested rising living costs, some hooligans broke into shops for looting, ranging from high-end luxury brands to bakeries.
In Marseille, the second-largest city in France, protesters vandalized dozens of shops targeting luxury brand Hermes as well as other stores selling jewelry, clothing, cosmetics, household appliances, and even bakeries.
In the northern city of Lille, shops were ravaged, with a specifically targeted Apple store in the city center looted completely.
In Nice, several shops including sportswear stores and a motorcycle dealership were looted.
French Minister of Commerce Serge Papin stated on Monday that at least 3,000 businesses were directly affected by the riots.
Estimates from the CEO of supermarket chain Leclerc and chairman of the French Retail Federation (FCD) suggest that the losses from this unrest could reach “hundreds of millions of euros.”
The French government has acknowledged the mishandling of the protest activities.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez mentioned in an interview with French International Radio on Monday that about 550,000 people participated in protests across various regions last Saturday, significantly surpassing the government’s initial estimate of 200,000 participants.
“This means that the number of law enforcement officers deployed in certain areas did not correspond to the number of protesters… and there were troublemakers, looters, and far-left extremists,” he stated.
Nunez revealed that he offered his resignation to French President Emmanuel Macron, but it was rejected. Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin conceded on Monday that there were errors in intelligence work.
The government declared partial curfews in Paris and some other major cities on Monday.