‘It’s hard for us’: Paris small businesses bear brunt of protest violence

Shopkeepers – including those from immigrant backgrounds – count losses from violence last weekend.

Hassan Rashdul, a business owner in Paris, whose shop was ransacked by looters during protests last weekend [Bernard Smith/Al Jazeera]

Paris, France – Jagged shards of glass frame the hole kicked through the window of Hassan Rashdul’s mobile phone shop near Place de la Republique, the epicentre of looting and rioting that swept this part of Paris on Saturday.

“I was crying,” Rashdul says, as he watches a CCTV livestream on his phone.

The glass countertop is shattered, the floor carpeted with broken glass. The display cases that were full of new and reconditioned mobile phones, iPads, and computers are empty. The walls where headphones, cables, phone cases and other accessories hung have been stripped bare.

“It’s really terrible,” the 32-year-old Rashdul says. “It was very, very hard for us… It’s already hard for small business owners like us. We’re not operating to keep the business going, but just to survive, really.”

Rashdul says he’s lost at least 70,000-euros ($78,600) worth of stock. His insurance won’t cover it, because loss from theft wasn’t included in his policy, though Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has said the government will cover employee salaries of about 3,000 businesses across France affected by the rioting.

There will also be a “dedicated support fund” to help businesses restock, the French government has announced. Lecornu has ordered more than 200 investigators to work on catching the perpetrators of the riots and looting.

But the rioters are moving quickly: Some businesses say they found their stock being sold online within hours of being looted.

“Stolen items from this weekend are being offered for sale on certain platforms,” digital minister Anne Le Henanff said on X. “We expect these platforms to remove the listings in question without delay.”

She held a meeting with representatives of six platforms in the presence of Interior and Justice Ministry officials. According to the French commerce ministry, representatives of Vinted, Amazon, eBay, Leboncoin, Meta and TikTok, as well as French online retail association Fevad, were invited.

“They will also be required to cooperate closely with state authorities so that those reselling stolen goods can be prosecuted,” Le Henanff added.

Around Rashdul’s shop, there are mini-markets, opticians, phone stores and cafes that bear testimony to the violence last weekend.

Some are boarded up. Others, where there’s nothing left to steal, have been left open and exposed to the damp October weather by their owners.

But amid his suffering, Rashdul spots a glimmer of hope.

“There’s another side to it,” he says, “a positive – local customers, people from the neighbourhood.”

These people have set up appeals on social media to secure help for shopkeepers, he says.

“They really make you want to try again,” says Rashdul. “People are helping us to rebuild our shop, to get back to work and serve this neighbourhood once again.”

But it will not be easy. It took Rashdul, who immigrated to France from Bangladesh, 10 years to build his business. He now calls himself a proud French citizen – respectful of the right to protest but also worried about the impact of violence on businesses like his, and on France as a whole.

“Even though I want to rebuild, next Saturday they’ve announced another protest,” he says. “I know we’re in a democracy and there’s a right to protest, but if that ends up in more looting, then that’s hard on France and damaging for its international reputation.”

包括一些移民背景的店主在内的许多人，正在统计上周末暴力事件造成的损失。

哈桑·拉什杜尔是巴黎的一位店主，他的店铺在上周末的抗议活动中遭到抢劫。[伯纳德·史密斯/半岛电视台]

法国巴黎——哈桑·拉什杜尔的手机店位于共和国广场附近，窗户上被踢穿了一个大洞，锯齿状的玻璃碎片勾勒出这个洞的轮廓。共和国广场是周六席卷巴黎这一地区的抢劫和骚乱的中心。

“我当时哭了，”拉什杜尔一边用手机观看监控直播一边说道。

玻璃台面破碎，碎玻璃铺满了地板。原本摆满全新和翻新手机、iPad和电脑的展示柜空空如也。曾经悬挂耳机、数据线、手机壳和其他配件的墙面也空无一物。

“情况真是太糟糕了，”32岁的拉什杜尔说。“这对我们来说非常非常艰难……像我们这样的小企业主本来就很难。我们现在不是为了维持经营而努力，只是为了活下去。”

拉什杜尔表示，他至少损失了价值7万欧元（约合7.86万美元）的库存。他的保险不予赔付，因为盗窃造成的损失不在他的保单承保范围内。不过，法国总理塞巴斯蒂安·勒科尔努表示，政府将为受骚乱影响的法国各地约3000家企业支付员工工资。

法国政府宣布，还将设立“专项援助基金”，帮助企业补充库存。勒科尔努已下令200多名调查人员抓捕骚乱和抢劫的肇事者。

但暴徒行动迅速：一些商家表示，他们的货物在被洗劫一空后几个小时内就被在网上出售了。

数字部长安妮·勒·赫南夫在X频道表示：“本周末被盗的物品正在某些平台上出售。我们希望这些平台立即删除相关商品信息。”

她与六个平台的代表举行了会晤，内政部和司法部官员也出席了会议。据法国商务部称，受邀的代表包括Vinted、亚马逊、eBay、Leboncoin、Meta和TikTok的代表，以及法国在线零售协会Fevad的代表。

“他们还将被要求与国家当局密切合作，以便对那些转售赃物的人提起诉讼，”勒·埃南夫补充道。

拉什杜尔的商店周围有迷你超市、眼镜店、手机店和咖啡馆，这些都见证了上周末的暴力事件。

有些店铺用木板封了起来。另一些店铺，因为已经没有什么可偷的了，就被店主敞开着，任由它们在十月潮湿的天气里风吹雨打。

但在苦难之中，拉什杜尔看到了一线希望。

“还有另一面，”他说，“积极的一面是——本地顾客，附近的居民。”

他说，这些人已经在社交媒体上发起求助，为店主们争取帮助。

“他们真的激励我们重新开始，”拉什杜尔说。“人们正在帮助我们重建店铺，让我们能够重新开业，再次服务这个社区。”

但这并非易事。拉什杜尔从孟加拉国移民到法国，花了十年时间才建立起自己的事业。如今，他自豪地称自己为法国公民——他尊重抗议的权利，但也担忧暴力事件会对像他这样的企业乃至整个法国造成影响。

“虽然我想重建，但他们宣布下周六又要举行抗议活动，”他说。“我知道我们生活在民主国家，人们有抗议的权利，但如果抗议最终演变成更多的抢劫，那对法国来说将是沉重的打击，也会损害法国的国际声誉。”