France riots: families trapped in homes

Throughout that time, the family feared the rioters would reach them. Only after hours of tension did it become clear that the mob had failed to breach an additional internal barrier in the building.

In recent days, as the initial shock has given way to anger and frustration, more and more French citizens have expressed deep anxiety about the next move by these Islamist and far-left rioters.

The assessment among all commentators in France is that the next targets will no longer be businesses, but homes themselves. According to them, there is a real fear of a situation in which rioters will attempt to break into private apartments to loot and rob, exactly as they did to shops and businesses at will.

Even during Saturday's round of violence, several cases of break-ins to private apartments occurred, particularly in Paris, incidents that received almost no coverage in the mainstream media but were certainly documented on social networks.

In Lyon, too, residents were forced to deal with the consequences of violence inside their own residential buildings. The local newspaper Le Progrès published on October 21 the testimony of Apolline, who lives on Rue Édouard Herriot.

Below her apartment is a clothing shop that was looted and subsequently set on fire. According to the report, Apolline watched from her balcony as hundreds of rioters attacked businesses in the area, but then the danger reached the building where she lives.

People with covered faces came to her door and warned her that smoke was rising from the shop below and that she needed to leave the apartment. About 15 people lived in the building above the damaged shop.

The incident forced the tenants to confront a danger unrelated to any participation in protest: the fire that developed on the ground floor endangered their place of residence and turned the home, which should be the safest place for them, into a place from which they had to flee.

"I have no tears left": the Jewish pharmacist whose life's work was destroyed

Another devastating testimony came from Odelia, an observant Jewish pharmacist in Paris whose pharmacy was looted and severely damaged.

In an interview with BFMTV, she recounted that on Motzei Shabbos she received a message from a friend asking if the business in question was hers. When she went on social media, she discovered videos showing people taking merchandise from inside the pharmacy.

She tried to alert the police, but according to her account, encountered heavy overload. It later became clear that the damage was far more severe than stolen products: equipment was damaged, computers were taken, and shelves were emptied.

For the pharmacist, it was a profound personal loss. For six years she had invested in the business, built relationships with her customers, and provided service to the neighborhood's residents. Now she faced the possibility that the business would remain closed and her customers would go elsewhere.

One of the moving moments occurred the morning after the riots. An elderly patient arrived to collect a medication he had ordered in advance, but found the pharmacy destroyed. The staff searched through the ruins until they managed to find the medication, which he needed at a specific time for an injection.

Despite the destruction, the staff succeeded in providing the patient with his medication. For the pharmacist, it was a moment of relief amid the harsh reality.

"I have no tears left," she described her feeling after seeing how her life's work was damaged within hours.

"It was an assault": the business owner who was injured

Aline Li, who manages the bar, tobacco shop and restaurant La Barrique in Paris's 10th arrondissement, was also harmed during the looting. According to a TF1 Info report from October 19, her business was destroyed and she herself was injured.

Li said that residents living in the area sent her videos filmed from apartment balconies, documenting what was happening at the business. She intends to pass the videos to the authorities and the insurance company to prove the extent of the damage and try to receive compensation.

She described what happened in these words: "It was an assault."

For Li, the struggle did not end with the rioters' departure. Now she must deal with the physical injury, with rehabilitating the business, and with the losses caused to her. The videos filmed by neighbors may help her in the fight for compensation.

20,000 euros in damage and fear for the future

In the city of Lille, Manon Cartor, owner of a hair salon, told TF1 Info that her business sustained damage estimated at at least 20,000 euros.

After cleaning the place, tangible signs of the events remained, including receipts thrown into the street and a fire extinguisher found in the bin outside the salon. Before she can begin rehabilitation, she must document the damage through photos, videos and testimonies for the insurance company.

Alongside the financial loss, Manon fears the expenses during the period when the business cannot operate normally. For a small business, every day of shutdown means loss of income, while ongoing expenses continue to accumulate.

Neighbors mobilize: fundraisers for the victims

Alongside testimonies of fear and destruction, there were also reports of residents who organized to help affected business owners.

After Sohail Hoque's business in central Paris was looted, a fundraiser was opened for him to help with expenses and resuming operations. A resident who has lived in the area for about twenty years said she decided to mobilize together with neighbors, fearing that business owners would not be able to recover on their own.

A fundraiser was also opened for Aline Li, which according to TF1 Info approached 90,000 euros within a few days.

In Israel, philanthropists decided to open a fundraiser for Odelia, the Jewish pharmacist who moved an entire nation when she cared for an elderly man who did not receive his medication on time while her pharmacy was destroyed to its foundations.

The aid does not erase the damage, but it gives business owners a chance to begin rehabilitation. Alongside the violence, there were also residents who sought to help the victims.

The trauma that remains after clearing the rubble

The testimonies from Paris and Lyon present the human cost of the October 17 events: Raphaëlle and her family barricaded themselves in their home for hours, Apolline was forced to leave her apartment due to the fire, the Jewish pharmacist discovered the destruction of the business she built over six years, and Aline Li and Manon Cartor were left to deal with physical or economic injury and an uncertain future.

Behind every shattered shop window stands a business that needs to recover; behind every damaged building are residents who fear for their security. Even after the streets reopen, the victims are required to deal with the losses, with the fear of recurrence, and with the question of how they will restore their lives to their course.

Eyes now turn to the coming Saturday, which has already been declared by organizers as a new day of rage. The police, gendarmerie and even the army are expected to deploy on unprecedented scales, in an attempt to save what remains of the honor of great France.