(Paris/London = Yonhap News) Correspondent Hwang Yoon-jeong and Kim Ji-yeon = As protests taking place across France escalated into violence, public facilities, including city hall buildings, were set on fire, and 2,000 to 3,000 stores suffered looting and damage. Owners of stores swept up in looting are devastated, and anger over the government's response is growing.
According to the French daily Le Monde on the 19th (local time), traces of the violence that occurred in various places last weekend remained intact until this day.
In Limoges, where the historic city hall built in 1883 burned down on the 17th, about 7,000 people gathered in the square on the night of the 18th and held a protest to condemn the violence. Ahn (47), a teacher, said, “It was a violent and terrible sight, but I couldn’t leave so I came back,” and “I am devastated.”
Limoges is where France's major labor union, the Confederation of Labor (CGT), was founded, and currently has 130,000 residents. About 5,500 people participated in the protest on the 17th. Some of them attacked the east side of City Hall and set it on fire, and in less than three hours the flames completely engulfed the roof.
Jean-François Lausin, a postman and member of the CGT union, said, "At first everything was fine, but then I heard that people had split up near the highway and that a group of people was heading to the city hall. I feel sad and angry both at the people who burned the city hall and at the state that neglected Limoges."
A battle of responsibility is also taking place in local politics.
Guillaume Guérin, mayor of Limoges, a Republican, said, "It was a peaceful protest organized for a just cause, but masked, highly trained and armed people intervened. These are not high school students or local youth who took advantage of the opportunity to loot. They are far-left activists."
In the capital Paris, Le Monde reported that even on the night of the 18th, a 'surreal' scene unfolded with people looting, employees cleaning up damaged furniture, scared tourists, and customers drinking in cafes that were open as usual.
At a department store right in front of City Hall, about 10 masked people broke the window and randomly took out watches and jewelry, and at an electronics store in Belleville, a working-class district, people were seen carrying out boxes of microwave ovens and electric scooters.
Riot police were standing by and anxious-looking tourists were lingering in front of the suddenly closed subway station.
Until dawn on the 19th, one woman took pictures in a flashy outfit on a street filled with tear gas.
AFP also reported on the 17th that restaurants, hotels, and residential buildings were largely spared damage, creating a surreal scene where Parisians enjoyed Saturday lunch with friends as usual while crowds created chaos outside.
Reuters reported that in the Place Vendôme area in Paris, where luxury hotels and shops are lined up, most of the shops had their shutters down on the 19th and security guards were seen surrounding the area. The front door of the Dior store was reportedly broken, and the windows of other luxury stores such as Rolex, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, and Gucci were also broken.
According to the Federation of Retailers and Distributors (FCD), nearly 3,000 stores were damaged over the weekend.
In a statement, the group lamented, “The retail sector is once again at the forefront of chaos at a time when it is already vulnerable due to a series of crises. Behind the looted stores are the owners, employees and their families who had to watch their businesses that had built up over years disappear in a matter of hours.”
The French Chamber of Commerce (CCI) calculated that over 2,000 companies suffered direct damage. “The damage could amount to hundreds of millions of euros,” CEO Alain Di Crescenzo told RTL.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu promised that the government would prepare support measures.
In addition, the government requested platforms where posts selling stolen goods were posted to take down the posts and cooperate in prosecuting resellers, according to relevant authorities.
However, merchants expressed their anger, saying that the government's preparedness plan was insufficient in the first place.
Gerard Nussi, manager of a clothing store in Marseille, told Reuters there were not enough police to stop the rioters, adding: "People were breaking everything and insulting us."
In an interview with France-Enpo radio, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez admitted that the 60,000 police officers deployed on the 17th were not enough to control the crowds.
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire, Marseille Mayor Benoit Payant, and Lyon Mayor Grégory Doucet jointly wrote for Liberation that day, saying that although these three cities are accustomed to protests, they "felt unprotected" during the events of the 17th.
These three center-left mayors pointed out that the government had a duty to answer to the French people, saying, "There were times when the looting continued for more than 30 minutes without the police being called."
They also called for local damage recovery support.
