Looting victim issues stark warning to Macron
Michèle Teboul has warned that France faces a decisive test after last week’s violent protests, telling News Outlet that some shopkeepers have acquired weapons ahead of demonstrations expected next Saturday.
Her message to President Emmanuel Macron was stark: “Next Saturday is your last chance to save France,” Michele Teboul, a business owner, said in an interview with News Outlet.
Speaking directly to Macron and Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, she added: “If they don’t do what’s necessary next Saturday, I think it is lost for France.”
The looting cost Teboul’s family far more than merchandise. Fifteen family-owned stores were ransacked, with five left completely destroyed. The attacks have also shaken her confidence in the government’s ability to protect businesses and their employees.
Broken window panels rest against the facade of La Barrique bar and restaurant, while debris covers the pavement after protests in Paris, France, on October 17, 2026. (Clement Souchet/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Teboul accused authorities of failing to deploy enough police to safeguard businesses. Families such as hers, she said, are now left to deal with destroyed properties and an expensive, uncertain recovery. Her demand is immediate: protect the public before the next Saturday of protests.
Her retail business operates in Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille and Montpellier. Her sons work for the family company and also run a separate brand of their own, she said.
Security measures installed before the unrest were not enough to stop the attacks. Teboul said looters used axes to smash through the boarding, leaving her sons with a daunting rebuilding effort.
“We can say that five of the most important stores have been looted,” she said, describing the locations as “completely destroyed.”
French President Emmanuel Macron gestures while speaking at a news conference during a European Union leaders’ summit in Brussels, Belgium, on October 16, 2026. (Reuters/Yves Herman)
The family must now finance additional security while also meeting the requirements set by insurers.
Teboul estimates that repairs and security upgrades will take at least two months. Those improvements are required before the company can secure insurance coverage, creating another barrier to reopening the stores and restoring the business.
“I think the winter season is dead,” she said.
Pedestrians walk through a debris-strewn street in Marseille, France, one day after nationwide protests over the “high cost of living” on October 18, 2026. (Thibaud Moritz/AFP/Getty Images)
Larger companies with established operations and financial reserves may be able to withstand the disruption, Teboul said. Newer businesses, however, have far less room to absorb such losses.
“The government said they would help us,” Teboul said. “We are going to see.”
Her sons have brought in security guards accompanied by dogs. Teboul said she had also heard of other shopkeepers obtaining weapons or tear gas, while stressing that her sons had not bought weapons.
“Some have bought weapons,” she said. “You know, we are not used to weapons in France.”
For Teboul, the crisis goes beyond damaged storefronts and lost inventory. She said many Jews are considering leaving France and warned that continued unrest could intensify that uncertainty if conditions do not improve.
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A shop owned by Michèle Tebou in Marseille, France, was ransacked by looters on October 17, 2026. (Michèle Tebou)
“It is going to be very hard to imagine a future in France for us, especially for Jews,” she said of her hope that the coming Saturday would be different.
Teboul said Jewish schools, synagogues and community businesses have dedicated security arrangements. Teboul is a former director of CRIF, the umbrella organization representing French Jewish institutions.
She stressed, however, that the weekend’s violence was a national problem affecting people beyond the Jewish community.
“The specific problem of last Saturday is not a problem of Jews,” she said. “The whole of France is concerned by this problem.”
Teboul said looters sought streetwear and expensive merchandise. She accused police of failing to protect businesses during the unrest on Saturday, saying officers were overwhelmed as large crowds descended on city centers, particularly in Marseille and Lyon.
She cited an estimate she had heard being talked of as being around 30,000 young people arriving in central Marseille, a figure News Outlet could not independently verify.
Leading French broadcaster BFM reported on its X account that “Between 1,800 and 3,000 people” engaged in “the ransacking of the city center of Marseille, according to the prosecutor’s estimates.”
Michèle Tebou’s store in Montpellier, France, was ransacked by looters on Oct. 17, 2026. (Michèle Tebou)
“They were not enough,” she said of the police.
The French government has acknowledged failures in its response to the unrest.
She said that authorities had mistaken the threat for an ordinary demonstration. “Of course they could prevent it,” she added.
Teboul distinguished between students protesting over grievances and those who used the demonstrations as cover to steal.
“There were two events on Saturday,” she said. “The looters, they took the opportunity that there were many people downtown, and then they came.”
People walk by looted shops after a day of violent clashes between police and protesters amid a nationwide mobilization over rising living costs, fuel prices and education funding in Paris, France, on October 18, 2026. (Hesham Elsherif/Anadolu/Getty Images)
For Teboul, the next test is whether authorities can protect what remains of their livelihood and everyone else in the country and restore their sense of security in France.
“We have to feel secure,” she said. “We do not feel secure for the moment.”
Teboul warned that another failure to protect the population could also have consequences for the government of Emmanuel Macron.
“The government may fall down,” she said.
