The looters stole almost everything when they smashed their way into Clemence Ramon’s store during the latest wave of riots in France.
asserted
they → steal → France
She watched them on the store’s in-house video from home, knowing there was no way to get help to the shop on Boulevard de Magenta when so many police were confronting protests across Paris.
asserted
police → watch → Paris
“They were like animals,” she says of the looters.
asserted
she → say → looters
The florist, 45, has cleaned and restocked the store near Place de la Republique, a focal point for the riots on October 17, but the shattered windows are yet to be replaced.
asserted
windows → clean → October
Thick timber boards cover the shopfront.
asserted
boards → cover → shopfront
And customers are coming back as Ramon talks to this masthead about what she has been through.
asserted
she → come → what
The media coverage of the past few weeks has shown the world footage of looted fashion boutiques, jewellers, shoe shops and electronics stores across France.
asserted
coverage → show → France
Some of the thieves targeted items of value they could easily resell.
uncertain
they → target → value
At Ramon’s store, however, they merely destroyed for the sake of it and took whatever they could find.
uncertain
they → destroy → whatever
That means the protests, riots and looting in France are not just about economic hardship.
asserted
protests → mean → hardship
And the problems are not limited to France.
asserted
problems → limit → France
Across Europe, nations are engaged in hard debates about the fractures in their societies.
asserted
nations → engage → societies
Protests have turned violent in Belgium, Italy, Portugal and elsewhere.
asserted
Protests → turn → Belgium
A general strike in Spain ended on Wednesday night.
asserted
strike → end → night
Protesters started fires on the streets of Barcelona and police shot tear gas into the crowd in Madrid.
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police → start → Madrid
Ramon cannot say much about the looters’ identities.
asserted
Ramon → say → identities
They wore black balaclavas, like so many protesters in Paris, and black sports gear.
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They → wear → Paris
She says they looked like teenage boys.
asserted
they → say → boys
“They were just destroying – they were not thinking about the people behind the shop, the families,” she says.
asserted
she → destroy → shop
Ramon greets customers cheerfully as she talks to this masthead, surrounded by flowers decorated with eucalyptus leaves.
asserted
she → greet → leaves
She seems an optimist by nature and is buoyed by the solidarity in the local community.
asserted
She → seem → community
But she works 12-hour days and cannot understand why young people are so often reported in the media to be giving up on France, as if the country has no future.
asserted
country → work → future
“They say to journalists: ‘I hate France’ and ‘France does nothing for us.’
asserted
France → say → us
Well, if they are not OK to live here, they need to go,” she says.
asserted
she → live → ?
We have a lot of support with apartments, with health, for families with children.
asserted
We → have → children
In France, I think it’s one of the countries with the most help in the world.
asserted
it → think → world
You can’t say France does nothing for us because it’s not true.
asserted
it → say → us
While some of the rioters and looters seen by this masthead in recent weeks appeared to come from migrant backgrounds, that does not explain the full force of the protests across Europe.
asserted
that → see → Europe
The rioters in France come from a mix of ethnicities and include young, white activists driven by hard-left ideologies.
asserted
rioters → come → ideologies
Their confrontations with police make global news and heighten pressure on political leaders, giving them an incentive to intensify their tactics.
asserted
confrontations → make → tactics
Behind the black-clad rioters, however, are thousands of people marching in the streets.
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thousands → march → streets
In Spain, 4 million people supported the general strike in the hope they would get government action on three things: housing, wages and consumer prices.
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they → support → things
The French protests are shaped by the frustration of voters who have given up on Emmanuel Macron, who promised so much when he became president nine years ago.
asserted
he → shape → much
The hard left exploits the rallies in the hope they can lift their champion, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, into the lead at the presidential elections next year.
asserted
they → exploit → elections
The latest Harris poll of voting intentions, released on Wednesday, shows that Mélenchon, who marches with the protesters as leader of La France Insoumise (the LFI, also known as France Unbowed), would attract 18 to 19 per cent support in the first round of voting.
asserted
who → release → voting
But the hard right, led by Marine Le Pen and her National Rally, would receive 34 to 36 per cent.
asserted
right → lead → cent
Every poll suggests she would defeat Mélenchon in the head-to-head contest in the second round.
uncertain
she → suggest → round
The political forces are different in Italy, where Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took power as a right-wing firebrand in 2022 and must face voters again next year.
asserted
Meloni → take → voters
While some critics paint her as a fascist, one of her greatest challengers is Roberto Vannacci, the founder of hard-right party Futuro Nazionale.
asserted
one → paint → Nazionale
Tens of thousands of Italians marched in support of a national strike on October 30, but the rallies were mostly peaceful.
asserted
rallies → march → October
…and 50 more, not listed.
The Aporia
