2023-07-09 16:32:46
It is the usual crowd of the first Saturday sales in the aisles of the Westfield Les 4-Temps shopping center, in La Défense (Hauts-de-Seine), the busiest in France with its some 200 shops. Customers in search of bargains walk around without much apprehension, without even paying attention to the many security guards positioned at strategic points and the rounds of police officers.
However, a week ago, the signs were on the alert: after the death of Nahel, killed on June 27 in Nanterre by a policeman, the nights of riots and the looting of stores, in Paris, in the suburbs and in the provinces, occupied all the news. With rumors on social networks of attacks on shopping centers, followed in fact in Rosny 2 (Seine-Saint-Denis) and Créteil Soleil (Val-de-Marne).
“Everything is back to normal, and today I no longer feel any stress from customers or even salespeople,” analyzes Jonathan, manager of a jeans store. There were three somewhat complicated days last week because we had to close early to allow vendors to return home since public transport no longer worked in the evening. But we were constantly informed of the situation by the management of the center with very present security agents. »
Customers in their “bubble”
At a seller of sneakers, yet targeted by looting, same story. “We reorganized for our teams by closing early and I reminded them of the emergency actions and the very clear instructions from the management in the event of a problem: no one plays the vigilante and does not put themselves in danger for shoes” , explains the manager, for whom everyone “very quickly moved on to something else”, namely the search for good deals before going on vacation.
“We didn’t even think about it for a second when we arrived,” smile Sabrina and Dalal, 30, who live one in Hauts-de-Seine and the other in Val-de-Marne. However, eight days ago, the two friends had planned to go shopping in another shopping center, Créteil Soleil, which was attacked at the end of the afternoon on June 30. “We just had time to park in the parking lot, we saw a lot of people running in all directions, so we quickly turned around,” say the young women who came to the 4-Times ” without any particular fear”.
For Cyrielle and Geoffrey, a young couple from La Garenne-Colombes, in search of summer clothes for Stanislas, 2 years old, the events also seem already far away. “I admit that we didn’t ask ourselves the question today, when we avoided going out to Paris last week, explains the young mother, who works in one of the towers in the business district. We’re kind of in our bubble. »
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