Macron Has One Last Chance to Save France, Business Owner Warns

A French business owner whose family saw five stores destroyed by looters last week said Saturday’s planned protest could become a defining moment for the country.

Speaking to News Media, Michele Teboul delivered a stark warning to President Emmanuel Macron: “Next Saturday is your last chance to save France,” she said.

Addressing Macron and Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, Teboul added: “If they don’t do what’s necessary to do next Saturday, I think it’s lost for France.”

Teboul lost more than merchandise when looters attacked 15 stores belonging to her family, five of which were completely destroyed. The damage also eroded her confidence in the government’s ability to protect businesses and their owners.

Teboul accused authorities of failing to deploy enough police to safeguard businesses, leaving families such as hers with destroyed stores and an expensive recovery ahead. She urged the government to protect the public before another Saturday of protests.

Her family’s retail business operates in Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille and Montpellier. Her sons work for the company and also run a brand of their own, she said.

The security measures put in place before the violence were not enough to protect the family’s stores. According to Teboul, attackers used axes to break through the boarding, leaving her sons to confront a lengthy and difficult recovery.

“We can say that five of the most important stores have been looted,” she said, describing the locations as “completely destroyed.”

The family must now pay for extra security while also meeting the requirements set by insurers.

Teboul said repairing and securing the stores to the required standard would take at least two months. Those measures are necessary to obtain insurance coverage, she said, creating another barrier to reopening and restoring the business.

“I think the winter season is dead,” she said.

Businesses with established operations and strong financial reserves may be able to withstand the disruption, Teboul said. Younger companies, however, face a far more uncertain future.

“The government said they would help us,” Teboul said. “We are going to see.”

Her sons have hired security guards accompanied by dogs. Teboul also said she had heard of other shopkeepers acquiring 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.”

The anxiety extends beyond damaged shops and lost merchandise. Teboul, who is Jewish, 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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“It’s 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 is 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 street-wear and expensive merchandise. She accused police of failing to protect businesses during Saturday’s unrest, 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 Media could not independently verify. French October 17: 

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.”

“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.”

For Teboul, the next test is whether authorities can protect what remains of her family’s livelihood and everyone else in the country and restore their sense of security in France.

“We have to feel secure,” she said. “We don’t feel secure for the moment.”

Teboul warned that another failure to protect the population could also have consequences for the country’s leadership.

“The government may fall down,” she said.