Protesters Clash With Police in Paris, Break Into Nike, Zara Stores
PARIS – The third night of riots in France over the police killing of a teenager spilled over into central Paris on Thursday night, with protesters looting stores on the rue de Rivoli and in the Westfield Forum des Halles mall.
Videos shared on social media showed a mob smashing windows and stealing goods at the Nike shop in the Forum des Halles, and 14 people were arrested at the shopping center, according to French news agency AFP. Another 16 people were arrested along rue de Rivoli, where shops were pillaged, it said. They targeted a Zara store and a resale store of luxury goods, videos showed.
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The Zara store window was already being repaired by midday Friday. The store was open for business and bustling full of customers taking advantage of France’s annual sales. Representatives for Zara were unavailable for comment.
The Nike store was blocked off by security guards, with several bystanders taking photos. Security asked bystanders not to take video of the damage, which consisted of piles of hangers in the street. An independent shoe store across from the Nike store was also having their window repaired, and said they anticipated being open for business on Saturday.
A shop for glasses had cracks in their window, while the Monki’s store’s windows and door had been damaged. The door was being blocked by security.
The Zara location is near the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned Samaritaine Paris-Pont Neuf department store, and just steps away from where Louis Vuitton held its fashion show June 20. The store was not targeted and business continued Friday.
“The store is open normally and we remain in contact with the relevant authorities to ensure the safety of the store and the teams,” a spokesperson told WWD.
The protests followed the killing of a 17-year-old motorist by police Tuesday. The driver, identified as Nahel M., was pulled over for a traffic violation. When he tried to drive away from police, he was shot and killed.
Police initially reported that he had tried to ram the officers with his car, but a bystander recorded the incident on video which quickly went viral on social media. Outrage over the incident sparked three nights of unrest across the country, as well as clashes with police.
In the Paris suburbs, supermarkets were looted in the towns of Montreuil and Epinay-sur-Seine. In the suburb of Drancy, rioters used a truck to ram the doors of a shopping center, which was looted and set on fire, AFP reported.
Protesters also broke into a bus depot in the Paris suburb of Pantin, and set 12 buses on fire. As a result, bus and tram services have been disrupted in the capital, running only part of the day, and will be halted at 9:00 p.m. Friday evening.
Chloé cancelled a planned event on Friday evening to celebrate Karl Lagerfeld’s creations for the house, citing “the current situation in Paris.”
Meanwhile, Courrèges postponed its annual club night, scheduled for Saturday. “We were so happy to dance with you tomorrow for our annual Summerclub but due to the recent tragedy in France we have decided to postpone our moment together,” creative director Nicolas Di Felice said on Instagram.
The protests echo the street battles between police and protesters that took place during the “yellow vest” demonstrations in 2018 and 2019. Protesters often targeted famous shopping street Avenue des Champs-Elysées, which went into lockdown mode and resulted in several shops being boarded up for weeks.
During those protests, other areas were sporadically targeted too, including the Forum des Halles shopping center and the Galeries Lafayette department store on Boulevard Haussmann.
As the yellow vest protests made headlines around the world – and made for incendiary video as they too burned cars and motorbikes – tourists stayed away and it had a negative impact on shopping spend.
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