Looting of stores in Paris continued for a second night — The Guardian

In Paris, France, looting of stores continued for a second consecutive night on Sunday night after protests escalated into clashes. Groups of people tried to smash shop windows near the Les Halles shopping center and take goods, and also entered an electronics store in the Belleville district in the north of the city, The Guardian reports.

After President Emmanuel Macron’s televised address on Sunday evening, in which he said it was unbearable to see streets being looted, groups of masked people operated in the city center for several hours. A witness near Les Halles told the publication that she saw people hitting shop windows and then fleeing from police officers. According to her, trash bins and bicycles were being set on fire at the same time.

Damaged stores and streets

On Rue Beaubourg in central Paris, an optician’s store was damaged: its glass façade was pulled onto the sidewalk, and shelves of glasses were emptied. A sports shoe store was looted in the Marais district, while near Place de la République, groups of people tried to enter stores that buy and sell gold.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

In the morning, broken windows, empty shoe boxes, burned bicycles and scooters remained on the streets of Paris. On Boulevard de Sébastopol on Sunday evening, people shouted slogans against the police and threw glass bottles at law enforcement officers. Near Place de la République, police used tear gas and pushed back the crowd that had gathered in the square.

Detentions after the unrest

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Monday that those detained in damaged stores on Saturday included a 34-year-old man who had previous convictions for property damage, theft, violence and traffic violations. He said that a 46-year-old man carrying clothing from a store was also detained, as was an intoxicated 23-year-old man with keys that, according to the minister, may have been from a stolen scooter, and a 19-year-old man found in the fitting room of a damaged store.

Looting began on Saturday not only in Paris but also in other French cities. That day, peaceful marches for better funding for schools and public services, clashes with police, and attacks on public buildings, including the city hall in Limoges, took place simultaneously.