Jean-Christophe Baltayan stands in front of the rubble of his business. The shoemaker from Lyon is picking up the shards of the windows; looted shelves can be seen in the background. The scene, broadcast by French broadcaster France 3, shows the extent of the violence that hundreds of shop owners in France experienced over the weekend. Baltayan's shop was completely destroyed and the goods were looted.
He can hardly hide his anger. In France 3 he remembers the moment before the attack. In the afternoon, a teenager, around 15 years old, threatened him: “Just wait and see, we’ll be back,” he is said to have said. In the evening the threat came true. The perpetrators broke into his shop around 11 p.m. - not to steal, but to destroy. “They just came to smash everything,” Baltayan told the station. He then describes what is at stake for him: "My business is not a chain. I work every day, even on weekends." The fact that he didn't see a single police officer during the riots makes him particularly angry.
Another dealer even called for the army to be deployed to France 3: His shop had been completely cleared out, but no one came to help.
The excesses of violence have sent a new shock wave through France. There were massive riots across the country over the weekend and especially on Saturday. Shops were looted, buildings and vehicles went up in flames, and demonstrators fought bitter street battles with the police. Over 2,000 people were arrested and almost 100 police officers were injured.
“I don’t know how I’m going to get along or live with my family.”
Owners of small businesses are sometimes facing ruin. A shop owner near Place de la République in Paris put his entire savings into the business, he tells the “Brut” portal. Now he feels like he has lost everything. “I don’t know how I’m going to cope or live with my family,” he said. Meanwhile, a neighbor is organizing a fundraiser.
But it's not just the economic consequences that are affecting retailers. Many also report the brutality of the attackers. They attacked a hairdressing salon with hammers “that were bigger than my head,” the wife of a hairdresser told the newspaper “Le Monde”.
Rioters did not stop at sheer destruction. They also brutally attacked those who stood in their way. Pierre, an employee of the Micromania video game store in Nice, was hit particularly hard. In an interview with the “Ici” broadcaster, he said that he tried to stop the intruders. “At some point I just intervened to stop people coming in, nothing more,” he says. Finally he was attacked.
Videos of the scene went viral on social media. They show how a masked attacker lunged and kicked Pierre in the back with his foot - so hard that Pierre was thrown several meters. “I still can’t fully understand what happened,” Pierre tells the station and explains that he was also hit in the face by projectiles. Looking back, he admits: "I think I shouldn't have done it in the first place. It was stupid. But at that moment I just did it." Pierre is now being celebrated on social media. “This man is my new hero,” writes one user. Others spread pictures showing him in the pose of a superhero.
Several hundred million euros in damage
The damage goes far beyond individual cases. Alexandre Bompard, chairman of the French trade association, told the media that the number of shops attacked across the country on Sunday night was around 1,500. The damage amounted to several hundred million euros. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire announced a task force to record damage and support business owners with insurance and administrative issues, according to Euronews.
For many retailers, the consequences of the riots are far from foreseeable. Because while they fear for their economic existence, the next escalation is already looming: new protests have been announced for the beginning of November.
