“It’s the first time I’ve seen it in 25 years.” Shopkeepers and residents in central Paris on Friday watched with dismay at the damage caused by an overnight looting and search in the heart of the capital.
“Today is a lost day of work,” says Yvan – he didn’t want to give his last name – a maintenance worker at a shoe shop in Châtelet les Halles, sitting on the steps near the shop.
AFP
Broken windows, stolen shoes… Both the store and the store of a famous American sports brand just a few meters away were looted and ransacked in the middle of the night.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen this, I won’t be able to work today… I have to support a family, it’s stupid to do that,” he laments while waiting for the store manager to arrive.
Opposite, Marieline, co-manager of the “Au coeur Couronne” café, who did not want to reveal her full identity, had to bring all the customers who were sitting on the terrace at night inside the premises.
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“We were and are very concerned,” she said. “When they attacked the shops. I called the police and even put out a garbage fire next to the restaurant.”
However, she has no plans to close the bar the next night. “I have reservations, I have to open, but if things continue like this I might close earlier,” she adds.
After being “very scared for the restaurant”, Noëlle, an employee at Maison Pouquelin in Châtelet, admits she is worried the riots will continue.
“We went through the Corona crisis, everyone gave up. So if that’s the case, the dealers are dead now,” she says, leaning against the restaurant counter.
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Rue de Rivoli, Luisa Viera, 58, lives between a jeweler and a French clothing brand’s shop, which was ransacked and looted at night.
As a property manager, she was woken up by a “big noise” and around 2 a.m. put a padlock on the clothing store’s door to prevent “people from continuing to come by and steal clothes.”
“Tonight I’m scared they’ll come back and make it worse,” she admits, leaning against the front door of the building.
Ibrahim (assumed first name), who was present with the rioters that night and sat opposite the American brand’s sports shop, confessed to witnessing a “mortar burst” of firecrackers. But he was “surprised” by the turn of events over the hours.
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“You are neither right nor wrong, because theft and looting will not help the investigation. But showing our anger shows that we are fed up with the goofs of the police,” he argues, not yet knowing whether he will attend the rallies planned for Friday evening.
After the damage, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, convened a city crisis team in the morning.