• It's a dangerous time to own a brick-and-mortar storefront in France.
• Violence erupted across the country on Saturday, as black-clad rioters ransacked stores.
• Around 1,500 storefronts were targeted, one corporate heavyweight said.

Business owners in France are speaking out after cost-of-living protests turned into widespread rioting and looting across the country over the weekend.

Alexandre Bompard, the CEO of Carrefour, one of France's largest supermarket chains, said that about 1,500 businesses were targeted in the unrest.

Bompard and several other corporate heavyweights condemned the rioting and called on French authorities to restore order.

Photos and video from Paris and other French cities showed black-clad rioters smashing storefronts and leaving laden with armfuls of pilfered goods.

"We cannot allow violence to destroy what generations have put so much energy into building," Thierry Guibert, the CEO of Lacoste, said on X.

Here's what business owners are saying.

• Paris erupted as protests turned to riots and masked looters ransacked stores on Saturday.
• Small business owners took stock of what they'd lost on Sunday.
• "When I got back, they'd taken everything," one store owner told Business Insider.

"When I got back, they'd taken everything."

That's what one shopkeeper in Paris told me as she cleared debris from her store after major cost-of-living protests turned violent across parts of France.

Chaotic scenes unfolded on Saturday as rioters clashed with police and set vehicles and trash bins alight before masked marchers began to ransack businesses, including in the trendy Marais shopping district.

After hundreds of arrests and a tense, momentary calm on Sunday morning, more violence broke out Sunday evening as black-clad rioters dragged debris into streets and set it aflame.

Employees at a boutique fashion brand working in the area as the riots unfolded told me the situation felt "dystopian," and that at one point tear gas began seeping into the store. That apparently was not enough to put some shoppers off, however, as some continued to browse, they said.

They added that there was a heavy police presence on the street throughout Saturday, and that although they had hired extra security, they eventually decided to close early as the violence intensified.

Cycling through the city on Sunday, I followed what felt like a path of destruction that steadily ramped up as I neared the Place de République, where the city's 3rd, 10th, and 11th arrondissements meet — the scene of some of Saturday's most serious violence.

I stopped at several stores along the way to photograph the damage and speak with shop workers about their experiences.

A store owner at a gold-buying shop whose front window had been smashed told me she was forced to close up early on Saturday.

"I got a call. It was my neighbor, who was working next door at the restaurant. He'd made a video showing a group of young people," she said, adding that they forced the door open and "smashed everything up."

"They stole things," she said. "When I got back, they'd taken everything."

Later, I stopped outside a ransacked Nicolas wine store, one of the country's most prominent wine retail brands. The storefront was agape, the entrance and both display windows smashed, revealing shelves picked clean. Empty Champagne boxes and glass littered the floor.

Among the other businesses targeted by looters and damaged in the violence across Paris on Saturday were major supermarket chains, tech stores, bars, and vape shops.

Alexandre Bompard, the CEO of the Carrefour Group, one of France's biggest supermarket chains, said the cost of repairs to damaged stores would run well over $11 million. He said the destruction would lead to "considerable human and economic consequences," as franchise partners would be forced to reduce the hours of dozens of employees.

On the other side of Paris, the situation was calmer on Saturday. Outside my apartment in Montmartre, for example, life ticked along as usual, terraces full of weekend revelers and a Saturday buzz in the air.

A bartender at a popular Irish pub along the boulevard — a few doors down from the Moulin Rouge — said it had been a particularly busy evening and that she had seen no trouble, adding that people were on the whole "very polite."

By Sunday morning, however, many other Parisians were greeted by smashed storefronts and ATMs, broken glass, litter-filled streets, and burned-out cars as they emerged into a chilly, blue-skied morning.

And there were signs the city had begun to recover. Workers were already making repairs to an employment agency that had been broken into, and volunteers swept the streets.

As Paris tries to get back on its feet, Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said that local businesses would receive government help. He said he had requested the creation of an "emergency task force to support shopkeepers" with insurance and administrative procedures.

"You bring Paris to life every day. Today, it's Paris's turn to stand by your side," he said.

As unrest surged across France this weekend, the most surprising attack came in the quiet city of Limoges, where rioters set fire to the city hall.

© Pascal Lachenaud/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Oscar Belgal arrived in the city from the Dominican Republic in 2022. Chaos appeared to follow, ending in a fateful encounter with immigration agents.

© Karsten Moran for The New York Times

France imposed scattered curfews on Monday after weekend protests over living costs and poor school conditions devolved into riots.

© Jeff Pachoud/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

• Alexandre Bompard condemned the riots in France on Sunday.
• The Carrefour CEO said that rioters targeted about 50 of his stores.
• Bompard said that the cost of repairs will exceed $11 million.

The CEO of one of France's largest supermarket chains, and one of the world's largest retailers, said that 50 of its stores were targeted by rioters on Saturday.

Alexandre Bompard, who leads Carrefour, France's version of Walmart, took to X on Sunday to condemn the riots and commend his employees as France reels from widespread civil unrest and looting.

"Nothing can justify such violence," Bompard said on X in French. "Those who attack the work tools of courageous entrepreneurs and their teams in this way must face an uncompromising response."

"The Republic must protect its shopkeepers!" he added.

Riots swept across France on Saturday after initially peaceful demonstrations against the high cost of living and deteriorating school conditions turned violent. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said on X that 600 police officers were injured in the fracas and more than 2,000 people were arrested.

Photos and videos from Paris and other French cities show massive demonstrations, burning cars, and wrecked storefronts.

In his X post, Bompard called the violence "unacceptable." He said that, in addition to Carrefour's stores, about 1,500 other shops were damaged in the riots.

"The cost of the repairs will amount to more than 10 million euros, and our shopkeepers need an acceleration of compensation procedures, as in the case of natural disasters," he said.

Saturday’s gatherings were more subdued than some past events, and many prominent Democrats skipped them.

© Jeffrey McWhorter for The New York Times

After anti-government protests devolved into chaos, leaders from across the political spectrum blamed one another for the unrest, even as it largely subsided on Sunday.

© Benoit Tessier/Reuters

Student demonstrations converged on Saturday with a broader protest movement against rising living costs, heightening a national reckoning.

© Abdul Saboor/Reuters

Rahul Gandhi is the descendant of three prime ministers. A surge of protests could give him a springboard to take on the nation’s current leader.

© Anindito Mukherjee for The New York Times

With midterm elections approaching, organizers of the demonstrations known for their anti-Trump sentiment are urging people to vote early.

© Jeffrey McWhorter for The New York Times

Riots broke out in several French cities alongside peaceful marches of tens of thousands of people demonstrating against rising living costs and poor school conditions.

© Jeff Pachoud/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Organizers are hoping to promote early voting ahead of the midterm elections in this latest round of nationwide demonstrations that have previously focused on President Trump.

© Audra Melton for The New York Times

Bally Bagayoko, the mayor of a working-class suburb near Paris, has been a regular presence at student demonstrations, prompting both applause and condemnation.

While the powerful board appeared to back campus administration, some students protested against the backdrop of homecoming weekend.

© Lauren Petracca for The New York Times

In the latest surge of violence, settlers targeted Palestinians during the olive harvest, a cultural touchstone and economic lifeline in the Israeli-occupied area.

© Ammar Awad/Reuters

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch received a standing ovation at the Alfred E. Smith dinner and joked about calls for Mayor Zohran Mamdani to fire her.

© Bing Guan/Reuters

Despite admitting mass immigration is damaging the country, the ruling classes fail to secure the border while clamping down on dissent. It's accelerating Britain towards crisis, say David Betz and Michael Rainsborough.

The post Britain is Accelerating Towards Crisis appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Angela Rayner's department funnelled taxpayers' cash into Left-wing propaganda seeking to prevent a Reform or Tory government in the wake of the Southport murders.

The post Rayner Funnelled Taxpayer Cash into Anti-Right-Wing Propaganda appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

A video clip of a Black male student at ongoing protests in Belgium showed him saying he does not know why he is protesting, and that his message is to “smash everything.”

The clip is being used as another piece of evidence that the protests are not really about reforms or improving education standards, but instead serve as a pretext for ethnic minorities to riot, destroy, and attack police.

After he calls for protesters to “smash everything,” the crowd of Black youths and other ethnic minorities, many heavily masked, began hooting and screaming in response. The video further shows burning shared bicycles and electric scooters, the same products many on the left promote as an alternative to CO2-producing cars and trucks.

In a post from Belgian political activist Dries Van Langenhove, he writes about the video: “European people can’t comprehend this because we’re simply not the same. They destroy. It’s what they do. It’s who they are. Politicians now come up with all sorts of fake ‘solutions’: more money for education, more youth detention centres, military conscription, … but it’s all nonsense. There is only one real solution: they have to go back.”

Our ‘Belgian students’ when asked what they’re protesting against: “we don’t know, we’re here to destroy everything”. European people can’t comprehend this because we’re simply not the same. They destroy. It’s what they do. It’s who they are. Politicians now come up with all sorts of fake ‘solutions’: more money for education, more youth detention centres, military conscription, … but it’s all nonsense. There is only one real solution: they have to go back.

— Dries Van Langenhove (@DVanLangenhove) October 12, 2026

The footage has circulated amid student protests in French-speaking Belgium, particularly in Liège and Brussels. The media reports that the protests are fueled by rising education costs, overcrowded classrooms and reforms in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. However, just as with the student protests in France, many of the participants cannot articulate any clear demand.

In France, many of the protests have devolved into large-scale riots, including attacks on teachers, police officers, and schools. Dozens of arsons have also partially destroyed schools across France, further raising questions about what the true demands and motives of the protesters are.

BREAKING: Rioters set fire to the entrance of Vauquelin High School in Paris and blocked the exits when staff tried to put the fire out. A film crew recorded the terrifying attempted murder. “The school staff was unable to put out the fire. The rioters blocked them just as the extinguisher nozzle came out; they blocked the exit.” “The fire continues. You see all the silhouettes moving behind it; they continue to feed this fire, making it stronger and stronger. The school staff is not even going to try to put it out anymore; they can’t manage it. We can hear the principal here asking the hundred confined students to step back and move up to the first floor.” The building was full of staff, students, and journalists, but these rioters appear ready to kill anyone still inside the vocational chemistry school. Follow: @RMXnews

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 5, 2026

In Belgium, authorities have also reported property damage, arson and clashes with police. Local media and police cited more than 100 arrests in Liège in recent days alone, many involving minors, with overall detentions since early October approaching or exceeding 200 in some counts.

Shop windows were smashed, fires set and objects thrown at officers; one video game retailer reported about €30,000 in stolen goods.

Interior Minister Bernard Quintin has said an Antifa-type movement is manipulating children into violence. “Adults who manipulate children in order to put across violent political messages. That is totally unacceptable,” he said.

One brave man tried to put out the fires in Liège, Belgium. He was brutally attacked by a frenzied crowd. The "student protests" are devolving into large-scale rioting, arson, and attacks on innocents. Follow: @RMXnews https://t.co/PEElkGrtL8

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 8, 2026

The student actions overlapped with a national strike Friday organized by Belgium’s major unions against government austerity measures aimed at reducing the deficit under Prime Minister Bart De Wever. Police estimated about 30,000 participants in the Brussels march, which was largely peaceful, though smaller groups of masked youths threw bottles, bricks, stones and fireworks, set fires and damaged property near the central station. Officers used water cannons and tear gas; authorities reported 21 detentions or arrests, including 13 minors.

De Wever has argued that painful budget measures are needed to avoid a debt spiral that would burden future generations.

The post ‘Our message is: Smash everything’ – Black Belgian student doesn’t even know why he’s protesting in revealing video appeared first on Remix News.