• Smashed shop windows and cars on fire — that's what happened in Paris on Saturday, and again Sunday.
• The chaos was an escalation in violence after weeks of demonstrations in the country.
• Students and workers alike have been taking to the streets to protest the cost of living.

A series of protests over the cost of living devolved into chaos and violence across France on Saturday and Sunday.

Mobile phones, luxury goods looted as French protests turn violent

Looting kicked off around the Place de la République in the French capital, where young people smashed their way through shop windows and made off with merchandise, the AFP reported.

The mob hit an SFR mobile phone store and other outlets that sold luxury goods and clothing.

Grocery chain outlets were looted, too

Franprix, Monoprix, Picard, and Carrefour City were among the grocery retailers looted in Paris, the AFP reported. In the 11th arrondissement, looters were seen leaving a Franprix filled with bags of juice, alcohol, and cakes, according to the AFP.

'The apocalypse'

The shopkeeper of a store near Place de la République named Cédric told RTL, a radio network in France, that he had barricaded himself inside his business in a bid to protect his goods.

"They're smashing everything around us," he told RTL, adding that he'd been a storekeeper in the area for 30 years. "They've destroyed my business. They've smashed my shop windows. They're taking pieces of glass to throw at the riot police. They're giving us the finger. They're telling us they're going to slit our throats. It's just the apocalypse."

Other French cities also saw looting and damage to businesses

The AFP reported that looting took place in several French cities, including Marseille, Nice, Nantes, Bordeaux, Limoges, Lille, Toulouse and Strasbourg, where supermarkets, pharmacies, luxury boutiques, and electronics stores were raided and vandalized.

Luxury goods looted

Photos also showed luxury goods outlets — including the Galeries Lafayette — being looted.

Thierry Guibert, CEO of Lacoste, posted a statement on Instagram on Saturday about the "images of violence and destruction" he had seen from the protests.

"When our Lacoste and Aigle stores are looted, like so many other businesses across France, it's not just shop windows that are smashed. It's jobs, years of work, expertise, and the commitment of thousands of women and men that are jeopardized," Guibert wrote.

"As a leader, I cannot bear to see what we have collectively built destroyed in this way. And I know that this concern is shared by many entrepreneurs and business owners throughout France," he added.

Building set aflame

This is the moment a town hall collapsed as protests sweep across France.

The 140-year-old town hall in the French city of Limoges caught fire during protests in the city

Read the latest on the Sky News website and app: https://t.co/oaLTf7aDbP pic.twitter.com/3OC3eU3Hf7

— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 17, 2026

Dramatic videos on social media also showed buildings on fire.

Videos showed the bell tower of the city hall building in Limoges collapsing after protesters broke in and set fire to the ground floor.

Mass arrests across France as police attempt to bring riots under control

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said late Saturday that authorities had arrested 1,200 people across the country following the day’s protests.

Lecornu also said that at least 150 police officers had been injured.

"Peaceful demonstrations have their rightful place in our Republic. Arson, looting, and attacks have no place whatsoever," Lecornu wrote in a post on X on Saturday.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on X on Saturday that "those who have broken, attacked the prefectures, as well as businesses, looted even our town halls, will be prosecuted and punished."

• Jeonghan and Joshua from the boy band Seventeen are debuting as a duo.
• To promote their much-hyped album, they've launched a visual diary on Pinterest.
• The duo told Business Insider about their chemistry, their music — and their joint mood board.

Jeonghan and Joshua from the mega K-pop boy band Seventeen are offering fans a dream to lose themselves in and a mood board for shopping.

The two vocalists are debuting as a much-hyped unit, a spinoff of the 13-member band's activities. As of Monday, they'll be working under the name JxJ — releasing their album, "DREAMSCAPE," and hitting the road together for a concert tour in six Asian cities.

In the meantime, they've been populating not only their Instagrams, but also a sprawling visual diary on their joint Pinterest account.

It's an interesting choice, as far as K-pop goes — usually, teasers are limited to platforms like YouTube or the K-pop-centric social network, Weverse.

In a written interview with Business Insider, the duo described their interest in Pinterest as a means of introducing the "visual world," concept, and vibe of "DREAMSCAPE."

The mood boards and the buffet of photos they've posted for fans to feast on are also a "little gift" to their audience.

"JxJ Diary is a space we created to share the concept and vibe of the album more directly with fans before its release. We spent a lot of time thinking about what kind of content they would enjoy, and decided to launch our first-ever Pinterest channel featuring different sides of ourselves," the duo said.

The singers said they wanted to explore the concept of "dreams" with the posts on their joint account. They've curated a collection of photographs and behind-the-scenes moments, including everything from candid shots to sneak peeks of their album photoshoots.

"We hope fans will take inspiration from the album's imagery and vibe, and express it in their own ways," they added. "It would be really fun to see them create their own version of 'DREAMSCAPE' on Pinterest by collecting photos, experimenting with styling, and curating images that reflect their personal tastes."

The business around the boys

That invitation for fans taps into a K-pop fan economy in which an album is not only heard or watched but also worn, collected, decorated, and remade.

The two Seventeen members belong to a group whose fan base collects their photo cards, travels to their concerts, and goes all in on albums and merchandise. Seventeen's 2023 album, "FML," still holds the record for first-day sales for a K-pop album, with more than 6.4 million copies sold. The band's "NEW" tour from 2025 to 2026 saw them play 31 shows in stadiums across Asia and four US cities, drawing close to a million fans, in person and online.

JxJ now gives Seventeen's fandom something else to get invested in: Jeonghan and Joshua together, and the similarities in their personal style.

Ayumi Nakajima, Pinterest's APAC head of content partnerships, told Business Insider the platform had seen a surge in interest in K-pop, making it prime territory for JxJ to establish a foothold.

Nakajima said that the collaboration with the duo's agency stemmed from the idea that K-pop fans connect with more than just the music. Pinterest gives fans a space to "explore the visual inspiration behind the artist's stories" and "save what resonates with them."

Pinterest has seen a strong surge in interest for all things Korea on the platform. Searches for "K-pop style" rose 19% globally year over year, while "K-beauty" searches rose 114%. In Japan, searches for "K-pop fan art" climbed 368%, while "trading card decoration" rose 77%.

"What visual experiences like the JxJ diary do is bring fans into an artist's creative world earlier, giving them more time to engage with the aesthetics, ideas and storytelling behind a release," Nakajima said.

"That early engagement can really shape fandom-led commerce, because fans aren't just showing up at the point of purchase," Nakajima added. "A look, a mood or a visual reference can spark interest weeks before someone decides what to wear to a concert, what beauty look to try, or what pieces they want to buy."

Chemistry

As for the boys behind the Pinterest board, they're prepped to serve up seven tracks spanning genres they're "exploring for the first time" on the new album. The duet songs, from early teasers of the music, involve experiments with house, synthpop, and dance rock. There are also two solo tracks — Joshua's punk rock offering, "Not Personal," and Jeonghan's dreamy bop, "Coloring."

"Seventeen has a certain energy when all 13 members are together, but we think the two of us have a different kind of chemistry when we are together," they told Business Insider. "Rather than trying to showcase something entirely new, we wanted to bring out our natural sides and individual charms as much as possible."

The album is also the product of "a lot of conversations" about the kind of art they each wanted to create.

"By sharing our ideas and the images we each had in mind, we were able to understand each other's tastes on a deeper level," the duo said.

They took a couple of trips together, too, which helped them "get to know each other better and shape a direction that felt uniquely ours."

"We also experimented with our vocals to show a new side of ourselves, so we hope fans will enjoy and support this album," they added.

"DREAMSCAPE" launches on October 19 at 6 p.m. Korea time.