Paris: The losses from the ongoing riots in France are estimated at over one billion euros ($1.09 billion), excluding tourist industry losses, president of the Movement of the Enterprises of France (Medef), Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux, said.
He added that according to his data, more than 200 retail outlets had been plundered, over 300 banking centers destroyed and 250 vendor kiosks damaged by the rioters, Sputnik News reported.
“It is too early to give you the exact figures yet, but we’re talking here over one billion euros, not including tourist industry losses,” Roux de Bezieux said in an interview with French newspaper Le Parisien.
Violent protests have escalated into rioting and looting, prompting authorities in some parts of France to impose partial curfews and limitations on public transport.
The French Interior Ministry has reported daily detentions and injuries to police officers, Sputnik News reported.
France has been on edge since last Tuesday, when a teenager was shot dead by a policeman for allegedly disobeying a traffic stop in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris.
The officer who pulled the trigger on 17-year-old Nahel M. has been taken into custody on suspicion of voluntary manslaughter, but that has not stopped protesters.
–IANS