France, Italy shopkeepers fight back against looters amid protests
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "France, Italy shopkeepers fight back against looters amid protests")
People clean a damaged store a day after riot and looting following a nationwide protest against the "high cost of living", in Lyon central-eastern France on October 18, 2026. Photograph: (AFP)
Videos of shopkeepers confronting looters in France and Italy have gone viral on social media, but existing polling suggests support for demonstrators majority support for protesters and their demands
Shop owners and employees in France and Italy tried to stop looters this weekend, after protests over the cost of living and education turned violent in several cities. Video of the confrontations has spread widely online, and some commentators cite it as evidence that the public has turned against the protests.
In Nice, a video game store employee identified as Pierre stood in front of looters trying to enter his shop and was kicked in the back.
In Paris, a female shop owner pushed back looters with what appeared to be an iron bar. Other clips show a man slapping a looter in Saint-Etienne and phone shop employees fighting back in Mulhouse. In Milan, a man with a baton confronted looters at an Under Armour store.
In both countries, the demonstrations began peacefully. The Milan march against wars and rising living costs turned violent when masked people threw stones at police and looted shops. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said police were not ready for the scale of the riots and offered his resignation, which President Macron did not accept.
No poll yet measures public opinion after the weekend's looting. Though the data that exists suggests support for protesters and opposition to looting aren't contradictory. An Elabe poll on October 8 found 55% of French people approved of the student protests, against 35% who disapproved. More than 70% called the demands legitimate.
During the 2018 "yellow vest" protests, one poll found over 70% backed the movement, while 85% said they were appalled by the violence. That was a different movement, so it is only a precedent. Shopkeepers in the footage were responding to theft and destruction, not to the protesters' demands.
However, the looting and vandalism reflect anger over the deep inequality in French society and are characteristics of the late stage capitalism. Oxfam says billionaire wealth hit a record $18.3 trillion, up 81% since 2020. In France, it says 53 billionaires hold more wealth than 32 million people combined. Oxfam France says 10 billionaires own most French media, and four of them control nearly half the TV channels.
