A French Retailer Whose Stores Were Looted Says Saturday Is Macron's 'Last Chance to Save France'
Michele Teboul, whose family lost five stores to looters, says police were overwhelmed last weekend and some shopkeepers have armed themselves. She says another failure on Saturday could bring down the government.
A French business owner hit by last weekend's looting has a blunt message for the president. Fox News reports, as a "First on Fox" interview, that Michele Teboul told Fox News Digital: "Next Saturday is your last chance to save France." She said that if the government does not do what is needed, "I think it is lost for France."
The damage. Looters ransacked 15 of her family's stores, she said, and five were left "completely destroyed." Her retail operations have stores in Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille and Montpellier. She said attackers used axes to get through protective boarding. Repairs and security upgrades required for insurance will take at least two months, she said, and "I think the winter season is dead."
The police. Teboul said authorities did not put enough officers on the streets and treated the threat as an ordinary demonstration. "They were not enough," she said. Fox notes the French government has acknowledged failures in its response. She said a figure of about 30,000 young people in central Marseille was circulating, which Fox could not verify. BFM reported that prosecutors estimated between 1,800 and 3,000 people took part in the ransacking of Marseille's city center.
Fear and self-defense. Her sons have hired guards with dogs. She said she had heard that some shopkeepers have bought weapons or tear gas, though her sons have not. "We are not used to weapons in France," she said.
Two events. She distinguished students with grievances from looters who "took the opportunity that there were many people downtown." She said the problem "is not a problem of Jews. The whole of France is concerned." Teboul, who is Jewish and a former director of CRIF, the umbrella group for French Jewish institutions, said many Jews are considering leaving France, and "it is going to be very hard to imagine a future in France for us."
The stakes. She said the government had promised help and "we are going to see," and warned that "the government may fall down" if it fails to protect people again. Our earlier coverage reports that Macron has banned some protests in Paris on Saturday.
Note for readers: this is one business owner's account, and her characterizations of police and politics are her own.