Macron has one more chance to save the country or ‘it’s lost for France,’ business owner warns

FIRST ON FOX: A French business owner who had five of her family’s stores wrecked by looters last week said this coming Saturday’s protest could be a watershed moment for France.

Her message to President Emmanuel Macron: “Next Saturday is your last chance to save France,” Michèle Teboul, the business owner, said in an interview with Fox News Digital. 

Addressing both Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez and Macron, she said, “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 ransacked 15 of her family’s stores, leaving five completely destroyed. She also lost faith in her government’s ability to protect them.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: FRANCE BRACES FOR MORE UNREST AFTER PARTS OF PARIS SPUN OUT OF CONTROL

Broken window panels lean against the facade of La Barrique bar and restaurant as debris covers the surrounding pavement following protests in Paris, France, on October 17, 2026. (Clement Souchet/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Teboul accused authorities of failing to provide enough police to protect businesses, leaving families like hers facing destroyed stores and a costly recovery. She demanded that they protect the population before another Saturday.

Her family’s retail operations include stores in Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille and Montpellier. Her sons work within the same company and operate their own brand, she said.

For her family, protections put in place before the violence proved insufficient. Attackers used axes to break through boarding, she said, leaving her sons facing a difficult recovery.

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

President of France Emmanuel Macron gestures as he speaks during a press conference at a European Union leaders’ summit in Brussels, Belgium, October 16, 2026.  (Reuters/Yves Herman)

Now, her family needs to pay for additional protection while trying to meet insurers’ security requirements.

Teboul said it would take at least two months to repair and secure the stores to the required standards. She described those requirements as a condition for obtaining insurance coverage, adding another obstacle to reopening and recovering the business.

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

VIOLENCE ERUPTS AT FRANCE PROTESTS AS MACRON WARNS UNREST IS BEING EXPLOITED

Pedestrians walk along a street covered in debris a day after nationwide protests against the “high cost of living”, in Marseille on October 18, 2026. (Thibaud Moritz/AFP/Getty Images)

Companies with established operations and financial reserves may be able to absorb the disruption, she said. Younger businesses face a more difficult path.

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

Her sons have hired security guards with dogs. She also said she had heard of other shopkeepers obtaining weapons or tear gas, emphasizing that her sons had not purchased weapons.

“Some have bought weapons,” she said. “You know, we are not used to weapons in France.”

The concern extends beyond damaged merchandise and storefronts. Teboul, who is Jewish, said that many Jews are considering leaving France and warned that further disorder could deepen that uncertainty if things don’t get better.

SOME SYNAGOGUES CANCELED PRAYERS AS FRENCH JEWS FACED WARNINGS AMID VIOLENT PROTESTS

A shop belonging to Michèle Tebou in Marseille, France was ransacked by looters on Oct. 17, 2026. (Michèle Tebou)

“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 Fox News Digital could not independently verify.

MACRON JETS OUT OF RIOT-TORN FRANCE FOR GULF TRIP AS POLITICAL PRESSURE MOUNTS

Michèle Tebou’s store in Montpellier, France was ransacked by looters on Oct. 17, 2026. (Michèle Tebou)

“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.”

People walk by looted shops after a day of violent clashes between police and protesters amid a nationwide mobilisation over rising living costs, fuel prices and education funding in Paris, France, on October 18, 2026. (Hesham Elsherif/Anadolu/Getty Images)

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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.

Fox News Digital’s Sydney Finver contributed to this report.