Luxury goods from the looting were immediately put up for sale

In a still shaken France, the shockwaves after the weekend's extensive vandalism and extensive looting of shops are running high.

Clothes, make-up, shoes and jewelery – anything of value was stolen from the aforementioned stores, as well as from Kenzo, the Apple Store and JD Sports. At the same time, Ralph Lauren, Burberry and Lacoste in Paris had their shop windows smashed and the gold and jewelery store Achat d'Or in Rouen was looted for rings and gold chains.

A clip from social media that DN has verified (see above) shows how the electronics chain Darty's store in Belleville in Paris is looted.

However, Dior's flagship store on Avenue Montaigne in Paris survived - but only because it was protected by volunteer security guards who formed a human chain in front of the store.

At least 3,000 shops were looted around the country. According to the analysis company Morningstar, it is about insurance values ​​of between 1 and 1.2 billion euros. It exceeds the insured losses from the riots in 2023, which amounted to 730 million euros, writes the Financial Times.

Yesterday, Monday, it became clear that large quantities of the stolen goods from the weekend had been quickly put up for sale on various sites. Many of the advertisers openly referred to the looting. Partly, the hashtag, #17octobre, was used, which referred to the date when they were stolen, and partly there were headlines such as "Cheap make-up from October 17", "T-shirt stolen during the demonstrations".

At the same time, some people called for stolen goods via social media.

The French government, with Anne Le Hénanff, deputy minister in charge of AI and digitization, called in sales platforms such as Vinted, Amazon, Ebay, Meta and TikTok and demanded that the ads be removed immediately.

- We will not let this pass unpunished, she said, according to Franceinfo.

Most of the affected stores were equipped with surveillance cameras and the police are now working intensively to identify the perpetrators. 200 police officers also examine the surveillance cameras that are in public transport in Paris, also to identify and connect different individuals with the images they received from the traders, something that Le Journal de 20 heures describes in a report.

By so clearly referring to the riots, the sellers probably wanted to signal that it was about new branded products, it may also have been about provoking further, writes Franceinfo. Proving that all the goods put up for sale are indeed stolen goods from October 17 will be difficult. Both police and authorities also warn that some of the posts may have been fake.

A total of 2,513 people have been arrested and detained since the riots began. 67 people have already been detained or started serving sentences. In France, they have been practicing speedy prosecution (comparution immédiate) for several years, which has meant that at least three people have already been sentenced:

A person who was arrested inside the gold shop Achat d'Or in Rouen with gold chains and jewelry in his pockets has been sentenced to 8 months in prison. A man caught in a shoe shop carrying shoe boxes in the same city has been sentenced to 12 months in prison and a man arrested in a video game shop has been sentenced to six months in prison and banned from staying in central Rouen.

Also in Paris, Bobigny and Toulouse, several people have already been sentenced.

Today, Tuesday, the government will meet the sales platforms to settle the situation. The cooperation is described as good, the platforms have strengthened their moderation of the sites and, for example, Ebay has a special portal reserved for the police so that cases can be quickly investigated. For electronics and exclusive branded goods, the authorities and the platforms collaborate around unique serial numbers and built-in chips to be able to match offered products directly against the stores' lists of stolen goods.