Six masked figures wielded a road barrier as a battering ram against the windows of the Louis Vuitton boutique on Paris’s upscale Place Vendome on Saturday, cheered on by dozens of black-clad figures.
The looters never made it inside, but it was close. “We have specialist windows that held, but mostly we were lucky,” said an employee of the luxury brand. “It’s sad. These were not protesters but people who had only come out to break things and steal.”
Other retailers were less fortunate during a weekend of rioting and looting across France, which followed protests about underfunded schools and the cost of living.
In Paris, stores along main arteries such as the Champs-Elysees are used to barricading their storefronts ahead of protests or sports celebrations that may turn violent, while authorities often ask construction sites to secure materials.