The video has been widely circulated on social media. We see a few hooded individuals attacking the window of the Crazy Republic store in Rennes. Some are armed with iron bars, others kick there to try to smash the windows of the clothing store. Some enter the sign and throw clothes in the street, a mannequin is swung. We see a few people seize clothes without it being known how much has been stolen.
This scene was filmed by residents of rue d’Antrain on Saturday evening, in the wake of a new demonstration against the pension reform. This is where barricades had been erected by hooded demonstrators. Trash fires were also lit, before the police intervened to disperse the thugs. A little further on, the occupation of the former L’Arvor cinema began and would last two nights, before an orchestrated evacuation on Monday morning.
Silent since the facts, the management of Crazy Republic reacted on Monday in a brief press release posted on its social networks. The team says it is “very saddened” by the ransacking and looting of the store and deplores the violence suffered by its employees. According to management, an employee “was beaten in the face with an iron bar” while trying to pick up merchandise in the store. “No demonstration, however founded, deserves so much violence, deplores the management. We are simply a Breton SME trying to bring a city center of Rennes to life as well as to hold in a sector considerably affected by the covid crisis and marked by competition from international giants. »
Remained closed on Monday, the store will remain so for an indefinite period “the time we give it a little beauty”, specifies the management. The amount of damage is unknown at this time.
The subject was invited this Monday in the precincts of the municipal council. One of the opposition members criticized the socialist mayor Nathalie Appéré. “You have to choose between these political alliances with LFI, or support for the inhabitants and traders of Rennes”, launched Charles Compagnon. Others went so far as to accuse the mayor of “complicity with the thugs”. “I just want to ask a question: who is responsible for maintaining order? There is exasperation in the face of these exactions of violent small groups which have nothing to do with the social movement, which dirty it, tarnish it and serve it, ”replied the elected socialist. Five people were arrested on Saturday evening.