Following Saturday’s protests across France, we spoke with D., a Jewish business owner in downtown Marseille. He describes a night of looting and vandalism throughout the city center. D., who asked not to be identified for fear of harm to his business, told C14 that while shops were broken into and looted, police focused on protecting government institutions.
4+France prepared for the protests in advance, deploying officers in major commercial areas equipped with batons and tear gas and stun grenades. But according to D., on the streets where the shops are located, he saw no police presence whatsoever.
Already during the Sabbath, he said, reports began coming in about looting in central Marseille. After the Sabbath ended, a colleague whose shop had been looted by rioters called him and asked him to come with her to see the damage. D. went to the city center with three friends, but says he found scenes far worse than he expected.
4+“Not Large Groups – Small Groups With Loot”
According to D., the young people operated in small groups, dressed in black and masked, walking around with bags full of products looted from stores. “They were in small groups—five, ten, twelve young people—not large groups,” he described. When they reached his colleague’s shop, there was still a group of looters inside. “We just drove past the shop without getting out of the car and continued. During our entire tour we didn’t see even one police officer. All the police were concentrated in front of the courthouse and government buildings.”
Later, D. and his friends arrived at his friend’s shops located about 300 meters from D.’s store. Before their eyes, they saw a small group of about ten people or fewer arrive on scooters, smash the display windows, and within minutes empty the shops, including luxury brands. “I called the police and no one answered,” he said.
4+According to him, during that evening he received calls from other shop owners who watched on their security cameras as their stores were looted, called the police and were told there were no available teams that could come, and that they should contact their insurance.
“We Can’t Absorb This”
D. explained that he’s avoiding exposing his name and face for fear the looters will target his shop too. “I’m afraid someone will see me and say: we forgot about him, and then they’ll come to my shop too. We’re staying discreet, don’t want to draw attention and problems.” According to him, insurance doesn’t solve the distress of business owners. “A person who cultivates a business for twenty years, it’s kind of like his child. It’s what brings food home. There’s stress about what the compensation will be, how long we won’t be able to work, and whether customers will go somewhere else and not come back.”
He emphasized that as far as he’s concerned, this isn’t a legitimate protest about the cost of living. According to him, some of the young people came in advance to break and loot, and some carried ‘Palestinian’ flags. “You can protest, but under no circumstances break people’s work,” he said.
4+Chaos and Threat to French Civilization
Rabbi Moshe Sebbag, rabbi of the Grand Synagogue in Paris, told C14 that for now, Jewish life in the capital is continuing as usual. According to him, synagogues and Jewish schools are already under permanent security, and it hasn’t been increased following the protests. Even on the Sabbath, no drop in the number of worshippers was recorded.
Rabbi Sebbag also addressed reports about rioters who came to a synagogue in Paris’s 19th arrondissement. According to him, after speaking with the synagogue’s rabbi, it turned out to be a break-in unrelated to the looting and rioting that occurred in the city.
“There’s chaos, but I’ll surprise you and say there’s no concern,” the rabbi said. According to him, French security systems are worried about involvement of Islamic elements in the riots. “This is a threat to all of French civilization.”
4+Rabbi Sebbag added that France has entered an election year, and that the violent protests are, in his view, the left’s way of demonstrating power. “The left and the far left who express themselves antisemitically toward Jews and Israel are setting the streets on fire. And facing them are the center and right-wing parties that support Israel and the Jewish community in the country.”
According to him, government sources attribute the events to far-left elements associated with Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party, and not just to a spontaneous protest about the cost of living. He added: “Europeans are used to resolving conflicts through negotiation and talking, but facing them are people who came from a different culture—and the Europeans aren’t ready to absorb this.”