French businesses count the cost of riots

Andrew Peach (0:00)

French businesses caught up in riots.

Sohan (0:03)

My eyes were burning, my nose were burning because of the tear gas.

Elodie Berta (0:06)

Today I had a tour of Notre Dame, most of what the clients and I discussed was not the cathedral, but the situation they had witnessed this weekend.

Andrew Peach (0:15)

It's World Business Report from the BBC World Service. This is Andrew Peach on the way, how a weekend of disorder is affecting tourism, and how looted goods are being offered for sale online. Also, can Europe set up a rival to Starlink to get online via satellite, and why people who work in the tallest building in Saudi Arabia are being told to stay at home?

First, curfews are in force in central Paris. Leon Lille and Nice as part of the Prime Minister Sebastien Lacournou's bid to end the violence and looting that scarred France over the weekend.

Sebastien Lecornu (0:54)

It's impossible that we let this violence and this chaos keep going as it is now. It's the measures and the guidance that I've given to all our local authorities is that there can be partial curfew that will be localised, targeted if need be.

Andrew Peach (1:12)

Francis Chambers of Commerce and Industry say at least 2,000 businesses were caught up in the disorder. Sohan saw the violence close up on Sunday working in McDonald's close to the Place de la Republique in central Paris.

Sohan (1:25)

My metro goes to the Republic. I took the metro and I could feel it in my eyes. My eyes were burning. My nose were burning because of the tear gas.

So when I got off my work, everything was quiet, but you could feel the stress in the air with all the police sirens going on and people like rushing around that. After like 40 minutes, my director, she starts calling and she's like, take no more clients, just serve the clients that's there and then send them home and close it. We waited for like two hours and we could see the young people, the masked people with wearing black, they were like going around and then the stores near our McDonald's, they were like vandalised.

Andrew Peach (2:11)

Elodie Berta is a tour guide. She's been telling you about her experiences in Paris over the past few days.

Elodie Berta (2:17)

I made sure to stay clear of any place, any location, any area that was announced to be a part of the march of the protest or any of the turmoil that was announced. I mean, the air was very thick and stinky. You had, you know, the eyes were crying.

Even in the metro, I was trying to avoid one of the areas where it was pretty bad. And so I took the underground metro and then I could smell the gas from the metro. So I didn't see, but I smelled what was happening, actually.

Andrew Peach (2:50)

OK, so pretty frightening to have this happening in your home city and to have the government announcing curfews, you know, for fear of the looting happening again tonight.

Elodie Berta (3:00)

Oh, yes, it is. Yeah, and it brings back a few memories from a few years ago with the yellow vest, the gilet jaune, not the same situation, but the same feeling for myself.

Andrew Peach (3:11)

OK, and give me a sense of what your customers, your tourists that you've been showing around Paris today have been saying about it.

Elodie Berta (3:18)

Yes, I had today had a tour of Notre Dame, and I have to say that most of what the clients and I discussed was not the cathedral, but the situation they had witnessed or they had lived this weekend, even if themselves, they had been not in trouble whatsoever, but they could feel the atmosphere, and also they were receiving countless messages from friends and family at home, very worried about them and their whereabouts. So, yeah, the tension is, you can feel the tension, even if you don't really see much.

Andrew Peach (3:51)

Obviously, Paris is a world famous city that people will want to continue to visit, but even though tourists who are there now, I think, Kimo, we might as well get on with it. There must be a lot of people in other parts of France, elsewhere in the world, asking themselves, well, do we really want to go to visit Paris right now?

Elodie Berta (4:11)

Yes, and I'm very sorry about this situation, obviously. I understand that anyone would be concerned and worried about visiting Paris. I think what happened Saturday was pretty dramatic and completely out of hand in some areas. From what I understand, the authorities have had a strong response and it looks like it's not going to happen again.