French business leaders call for order after riots and looting: 'The Republic must protect its shopkeepers!'

• It's a dangerous time to own a brick-and-mortar storefront in France.
• Violence erupted across the country on Saturday, as black-clad rioters ransacked stores.
• Around 1,500 storefronts were targeted, one corporate heavyweight said.

Business owners in France are speaking out after cost-of-living protests turned into widespread rioting and looting across the country over the weekend.

Alexandre Bompard, the CEO of Carrefour, one of France's largest supermarket chains, said that about 1,500 businesses were targeted in the unrest.

Bompard and several other corporate heavyweights condemned the rioting and called on French authorities to restore order.

Photos and video from Paris and other French cities showed black-clad rioters smashing storefronts and leaving laden with armfuls of pilfered goods.

"We cannot allow violence to destroy what generations have put so much energy into building," Thierry Guibert, the CEO of Lacoste, said on X.

Here's what business owners are saying.

Guibert, who heads the luxury French clothing brand Lacoste and the outdoor clothing brand Aigle, issued a forceful statement on social media. He said the looting is antithetical to the entrepreneurial spirit.

"When our Lacoste and Aigle stores are looted, like so many other businesses across France, it is not only shop windows that are being smashed," he said in French. "It is jobs, years of work, know-how, and the commitment of thousands of women and men that are being put at risk."

Guibert said his concerns were shared by other entrepreneurs and smaller shop owners across France. He portrayed the riots as a degradation of French industry.

Lacoste operates about 150 storefronts across France.

The head of one of France's biggest professional esports organizations said that a part of him "went up in smoke" after his gaming café and club was looted on Saturday.

"The right to demonstrate is a fundamental freedom that I will defend all my life," Devide said on social media. "But looting and destruction should never have a place in these fights."

The esports organization operates a 4,300-square-foot gaming center, merchandise store, and café in central Paris. Vitality's X account posted on Saturday that "the premises of our club were looted."

"Fortunately, none of our staff members nor any fans were injured," Vitality said. "On the other hand, our display windows were destroyed, and our trophies and computer equipment were stolen."

Bompard, the CEO of the French supermarket and retail chain Carrefour, said that 50 of its stores were targeted by rioters on Saturday.

"Nothing can justify such violence," Bompard said on X in French. "Those who attack the work tools of courageous entrepreneurs and their teams in this way must face an uncompromising response."

"The Republic must protect its shopkeepers!" he added.

He attached four photos on his X post showing the ruined aisles of one Carrefour store. In the pictures, items litter the ground, and the shelves are empty.

Thierry Cotillard, chairman of Les Mousquetaires, a French retail group that owns the Intermarché supermarket brand, called the looting "unacceptable" in a LinkedIn post.

"We cannot trivialize these scenes," he said. "We cannot accept that violence becomes a response, that destruction becomes a mode of expression and that those who work honestly become the collateral victims of the anger of others."

Cotillard said at least two of his franchises in Paris and Rennes were "ransacked by thugs" during the riots on Saturday. He said his thoughts were with "all the shopkeepers who are paying the price."

"To our members, to our teams who are victims of this damage: you are not alone," he said. "We are at your side."