Paris pharmacy owner describes total loss after nationwide riots
Rioting across France left a Paris pharmacy completely destroyed, with the owner saying all stock was burned and fixtures ripped out.
France experienced some of its most severe rioting in recent years, with protests spreading to dozens of cities and damaging public buildings. At least 3,000 shops nationwide were reported vandalised or looted, and a Paris pharmacy owner, Odelia, said the entire stock was destroyed, the water heater ripped out and light fixtures torn down, questioning how the building could be set on fire with homes above it. The unrest prompted travel advisories from several countries, including the United States, China and Germany.
In response, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said new curfews would be imposed where needed and noted that earlier measures had helped keep nights calmer. The government also called emergency meetings for the following day, involving major social-media platforms to address the situation.
Why it matters
The riots highlight deep social unrest in France ahead of the presidential election and strain public safety and commerce.
How this story developed
- Oct 1 France sees nearly two thousand arrests as school protests turn violent
- Oct 18 Shops in dozens of French cities were looted Saturday after cost-of-living protests, leaving retailers to assess heavy losses.
- Oct 18 President Emmanuel Macron described the recent unrest as a period of extreme gravity and pledged swift state assistance for damaged merchants.
- Oct 18 Macron granted prefects, together with mayors, the power to prohibit assemblies when required.
- Oct 18 A grenade injury to a 15‑year‑old has intensified criticism of police crowd‑control tactics.
- Oct 18 Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez reported over 2,000 arrests and 600 police injuries.
- Oct 19 A rioter was seriously injured when a large glass pane fell on his head and another had a hand severed after handling a police stun grenade.
- Oct 19 Macron rejected interior minister Laurent Nuñez's resignation after the minister acknowledged loss of control.
- Oct 19 Authorities will enforce 8 p.m.-6 a.m. curfews on Monday and Tuesday in parts of Lille and four other Nord communes following recent riots.
- Oct 19 A person died of a cardio‑respiratory arrest on Saturday afternoon, reported by the Paris police prefecture and the Paris prosecutor’s office as a man on rue du Château‑d’Eau dying after a probable malaise.
- Oct 19 Curfews were imposed overnight in sections of Paris.
- Oct 19 The Senate opened a formal inquiry into the weekend violence.
- Oct 20 Partial night curfews were imposed in sections of Paris, Nice and Lille.
- Oct 20 Curfews were extended to additional neighborhoods and cities, with assembly bans starting at 8 p.m.
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