Devastated business owners in Lyon: “Everything was looted, it seemed like a civil war had broken out”

The violence took over the streets Paris, Nanterre, Marseille, Lille, Lyon or Strasbourgamong other cities, since last Tuesday the agent has been shooting at NahelA 17-year-old who He lost his life because he jumped the police checkpoint when I was driving without a license. He robbing shops also becomes one of the targets of the protesters, while affected merchants admits that in state of shock seeing their institutions destroyed. “It seemed to be let off the chain civil war“, he told the radio station FranceInfo kelly ingargiolapresident of the association of merchants of Rue Victor Hugo in Lyon.

“We are in the crosshairs, they have the impression that we are billionaires,” protested one of the merchants on that same street. «they robbed everything. a tornado passed: full of mortars and firecrackers inside the store. It was not a pleasant show,” says the manager of the underwear franchise, who admits she is shaken by the situation and this wave of “unjustified violence.”

But the worst part, without a doubt, took over video game and electronics stores. A circumstance that can be linked to the fact that 30% of arrested rioters are minors. According to the police, a good number of those arrested are young people between 12 and 18 years and they usually operate in groups. They use channels like WhatsApp or Telegram for organization and communication. That’s why Macron has already done it appeal “to the responsibility” of parents so that their children stay at home at night and do not participate in riots.

Already violence he took the first life. a boy of 19 years who participated in supermarket robbery died on Friday after falling from the roof of the institution in Petit Quevillya city in northwestern France.

As happened in the protests against the pension reform, the presence extreme left groups who take advantage of riots to sow chaos. “There is an unacceptable instrumentalization of the death of a teenager, which we all condemn, when it should be a time of remembrance and respect,” Macron said.