At least 1,200 buildings have been burnt, attacked, or looted across France in a week of nightly violence which the head of a business group says has caused at least one billion Euros ($1.1 billion) of damage.
The chief of The Mouvement des entreprises de France (MEDEF, Movement of French Businesses) Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux says hundreds of his members have been attacked over the course of the last week’s rioting, including 200 shops, 300 bank branches, and 250 tobacconists, which appear to have been a particular target for looting in many cities.
While the exact cost of these rioter-set fires and looting raids is not yet known, the running total so far is already “more than a billion Euros”, Bézieux tells Le Parisien. Not yet calculated as compounding that cost, the business confederation boss said, was the fact the frightening footage of rioting has been broadcasted around the world which will damage France’s reputation as a tourist destination.
