France Link

Insurers estimate cost of French riots damage at 650 million euros

The estimate, based on claims so far, is likely to rise further after a week of riots and looting flared across France after the fatal police shooting of a teenager in a Paris suburb.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

Rioting in French cities over the past two weeks has left a trail of destruction costing 650 million euros say insurers, reports The Times.

The cost was calculated from 11,300 insurance claims already filed and is expected to rise.

The violence began on June 27 after the fatal shooting by police of Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old French-Algerian. Rioters used social media to co-ordinate attacks on public buildings that they saw as symbols of the state.

Bruno Le Maire, the finance minister, said about 1,000 shops had been looted and nearly 400 bank branches attacked and vandalised.

Read more of this report from The Times.