Paris

Protests by dozens of trade union members and disgruntled employees on Thursday (December 22) caused managers of ultra-luxury La Samaritaine shopping store to down shutters. The store is owned by French luxury giant LVMH.

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La Samaritaine re-opened in June last year after a 750 million euro facelift and renovation carried out over 16 years.

"La Samaritaine is a symbolic place representing wealth. A lot of employees here cannot allow themselves to buy what they sell," Amar Lagha, from the hard-left CGT union, told AFP. 

The union claimed that around 200-300 protesters were involved in the protest.

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Wearing red vests with the union's emblem, they could be seen standing among the displays of luxury handbags, make up and clothing even after management shut the store in the morning.

"Almost all of the demonstrators were not employees of la Samaritaine," the store's management said in a statement. "For security reasons, clients and personnel were evacuated."

France has been hit by a series of strikes in different sectors of the economy as employees push for pay hikes in the face of annual inflation of around 6.0 percent.

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