France sends in troops as Paris simmers in aftermath of riots

Paris: Troops will be deployed to reinforce police in a bid to quell riots on French streets after an outcry over the violence last weekend and a growing political debate about a breakdown in social cohesion.

The French government outlined longer curfews and tougher measures to stop gangs of masked rioters looting stores and trashing buildings, as authorities began clearing burnt cars and other wreckage from city streets.

The curfews in Paris helped police regain control of key areas where they clashed with protesters on Saturday and Sunday, bringing relative calm to the French capital.

But business owners around the Place de la Republique, a focal point for the destruction, expressed anger at the police for failing to come to their help when looters ransacked their stores.

Shop owners cleared debris and installed timber sheets to replace smashed windows in the Parisian district on Tuesday, with some telling this masthead they feared more protests and therefore more looting.

“It’s not over,” said one store owner, Kevin, as he spoke to this masthead at a manga store he manages on Rue Voltaire, one block from the Place de la Republique.

“It’s too easy for them,” he said of the looters. He said that he and his colleagues called the police five times on Saturday night to try to stop the thieves breaking into the store, but were told the authorities were overwhelmed with the task of confronting rioters in other parts of Paris.

Kevin, who asked not to give his last name, said the thieves were not random protesters because they targeted his store in the knowledge that some of the items he stocked, such as Pokemon cards, could be sold easily online at high prices.

The cards at the store included rare items priced at up to 3000 euro, he said, and the looters appeared to know what they were looking for. A store next door with manga products at lower prices, without the rare items, was not looted.

Stores selling brand-name clothing and footwear, including Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, New Balance and Hoka, were among those ransacked in wealthy parts of Paris, while some watch stores were also targeted.

While some of the rioters were motivated by theft, others were driven by political agendas including far-left ideology.

Police in the southern city of Limoges announced on Tuesday that the suspect in the destruction of the historic town hall, which was largely destroyed in an arson attack on Saturday night, was a member of an “ultra-left” group who had been on a security watch-list.

Fresh protests planned

New protests are being planned for this Saturday by left-wing groups involved in the “yellow vest” rallies over the cost of living in 2018, which featured some violence but not the widespread looting seen last weekend.

The Gilets Jaunes (“yellow vest”) movement is calling on the government to lower fuel prices and the cost of other household essentials.

Some protesters in the Place de la Republique in recent days have shown support for the Gilets Jaunes, but many have confronted police, and some have looted stores with no apparent political objective.

Workers arrived in the Place de la Republique on Tuesday morning (late on Tuesday, AEDT) to clean graffiti from the statue in the centre of the square, a symbol of the French Republic, and remove a plastic decoration resembling a yellow vest.

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu promised a “massive” deployment this Saturday to ensure control in the event of further protests and possible violence.

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