Cities across France will be given increased law enforcement to deal with fresh protests after a ban on demonstrations was lifted in many places.
President Emmanuel Macron, returning from a tour of the Gulf, was holding a meeting with intelligence services at the Elysee Palace on Thursday morning, after concerns they misjudged how to handle the violence and looting of the past week.
The number of police officers on the streets will be 20 per cent higher than last weekend, according to Jean-Didier Berger, minister delegate to the Minister of the Interior. Protests are planned for Paris on Saturday.
“We have cancelled some vacations. We have called back people who were supposed to be on vacation but will not be,” he told BFMTV. He said officers had been given permission to use weapons such as stun grenades, which had been questioned after a teenager lost his hand while picking one up during a previous demonstration.
Businesses in Paris were urged by the police chief, Patrice Faure, to increase their own security by hiring private guards, potentially with dog units, and use alarm systems. Rallies are planned for Thursday in several cities including Lille.
Across Paris’s shopping districts, luxury boutiques bear the scars of a weekend of rioting that filled social media feeds around the world. Now they are bracing for the possibility of another round.
On the Champs-Elysees, Louis Vuitton’s flagship store now has metallic grates protecting its window, as does the Christian Dior Couture emporium on Avenue Montaigne, a nexus of high-end shopping in Paris’s eighth arrondissement. Both stores escaped serious damage last weekend, even as shops elsewhere were less fortunate.
Windows and doors are boarded up along the Rue Saint-Honore, not far from France’s presidential palace. Mobs on Saturday broke into and looted shops along the street, including those of Burberry, Christian Dior perfumes and Guerlain. Those three boutiques have remained closed, as has a Salomon sportswear store on the nearby Boulevard de la Madeleine that was similarly ravaged.
The Hermes boutique on Avenue George V, close to the Champs-Elysees, suffered broken windows. The brand’s store in Marseille fared far worse, and “won’t reopen any time soon”, after being ransacked by rioters, chief financial officer Eric du Halgouet said on Thursday. Hermes has beefed up its security measures, he said.
The violence followed protests last Saturday that drew more than half a million people across France. As night fell, roving bands of hooded and masked rioters hit hundreds of shops, smashing windows, destroying equipment and running off with merchandise. The turmoil abated after curfews and transport restrictions were imposed on Monday, but the protesters’ call for another day of unrest this Saturday has residents, authorities and shopkeepers on edge.
The brazen attacks and ineffectual police response prompted an outcry from retailers, among others, and led to a profit warning from Carrefour SA, one of the country’s largest grocers. About 50 of its stores were hit on the first day of rioting, with many looted and damaged, chief executive Alexandre Bompard told financial analysts on Tuesday.
The unrest is hurting consumer confidence, dissuading shoppers and driving up costs for security and logistics, Mr Bompard said. Carrefour expects a hit to profitability of as much as €200 million ($225 million).
Laurent Milchior, who heads lingerie brand Etam, told BFM Business that the destruction over the weekend represented €1 million in lost sales and another €500,000 from stolen goods and damage to its stores. “If it’s a one-off, it’ll work out, but the issue is if it lasts,” he said, referring to repeated days of protests that degenerate into violence.
Mr Milchior called on President Macron to mobilise the army to deal with the incidents, saying anti-riot police and other forces were outmatched.
Thierry Guibert, the chief executive of Lacoste owner Maus Freres SA, urged the state in a LinkedIn post “to mobilise without delay all legal means it has to put an end to the violence, protect our citizens, our police officers, our workers and our companies”.
Galeries Lafayette, after suffering damage and looting at locations including Boulevard Haussmann in Paris and in Bordeaux, said the material and economic consequences would be significant.
In response to the attacks, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu promised “massive” security measures around this Saturday’s protests in remarks to the National Assembly. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez is scheduled to give further details later on Thursday.
The impact of the rioting is likely to ripple across the tourism industry, particularly if it carries on. Images of violence have led to cancellations at high-end Paris hotels, according to Christophe Laure, who heads UMIH Prestige, which represents four-star and five-star hotels. Well-heeled guests of those establishments often shop at the local luxury shops.
“It’s too early today to assess whether this will have an impact on foreign tourist clientele in coming weeks,” said Mr du Halgouet of Hermes.
With demand for luxury goods in China already weak and the wider industry in a slump, an extended drop in tourist purchases in France would come at a difficult moment. That is especially the case with the Christmas shopping season now getting under way. Milan, another European luxury shopping destination, has also experienced looting in the past few days.
Two prominent events set to lure foreign visitors are still going ahead this weekend. The Art Basel Paris fair, at the Grand Palais, said it “has extensive protocols in place” for the show and “works closely with a private security company and, where necessary, the Paris police”.
On Sunday, the National Football League will hold a game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints at Stade de France, the stadium in the suburbs of Paris where a Champions League final in 2022 ended in scenes of chaos and violence as local individuals assaulted football fans. Security will be heightened for the game.
Agencies contributed to this report