Join Us in France · Sunday, November 1, 2026
Parisian resident Patricia Perry explains that the October 17th demonstrations escalated much faster than anticipated, leaving police severely understaffed and allowing opportunistic looters to target hundreds of stores, particularly along Rue de Rivoli.
“Right, I was reading this morning that there were between 400 and 600 stores were looted. So this time the looting was out of control, I think.”
“This one escalated to a much larger size and much more riffraffed much more quickly than the police had anticipated, so they were extremely understaffed, which is why it got so out of hand so quickly.”