The Somme prefecture said on Tuesday, 20 October, that it sent a CRS company to Amiens on Saturday, 17 October, to secure the city centre, not the Trogneux shop.
The Alliance police union asked President Emmanuel Macron to explain the deployment in a Facebook post on Tuesday, 20 October.
Le Canard enchaîné, citing police figures, said 42 riot police companies were deployed nationwide, with 14 more that could have been mobilised.
NewsIT reported at least 3,000 shops vandalised or looted over the weekend, while 7sur7 cited more than 2,000 arrests on 17 October.
Social media images show three police vans parked outside the Trogneux chocolate shop in Amiens, a business belonging to the family of Brigitte Macron, the wife of President Emmanuel Macron. The vehicles were reportedly part of CRS riot police units positioned ahead of the demonstrations on Saturday, 17 October. The images triggered a row because traders across France said their premises had been badly damaged on the same day without police present to defend them.
The Alliance police union posted on Facebook on Tuesday, 20 October, demanding that the president explain the deployment. The post read in part as follows.
“Mr Macron, the Republic is not your private property”
The same post asked a direct question about equal treatment.
“Remind us, Mr President: do all French citizens have the same right to protection?”
Johan Cavallero, an Alliance official, rejected the prefecture's explanation. He argued that the centre of Amiens is large enough that the vans could have been parked in front of the cathedral or another building. The union also recalled that colleagues were seriously injured in 2023, and said officers should protect all traders rather than one shop because it belongs to the president's family.
The Somme prefecture denied on Tuesday that it had sent a CRS company to guard the Trogneux shop. It said that several hundred people spent nearly three hours on Saturday afternoon trying to force barriers protecting the pedestrian streets of the city centre. Its statement continued in these words.
“a CRS company joined Amiens urgently to reinforce local forces in the evening and secure all the shops in the city centre”
According to the prefecture, the vehicles were positioned in the middle of the pedestrian street at Place Gambetta and near the railway station.
The satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné wrote on X that a company had been sent specifically to guard shops belonging to Brigitte Macron's brother, in Amiens and in Le Touquet in the Pas-de-Calais. Citing police figures, the paper said the Interior Ministry deployed 42 riot police companies nationwide, when 14 more could have been mobilised. It also claimed that 17 CRS companies stayed at rest on 17 October and that the ministry greatly underestimated the number of protesters. The paper further reported that the Paris police prefect did not receive all the reinforcements he requested, despite intelligence warnings of widespread looting.
Data from the article text
The broader picture of that day is severe. 7sur7 reported three deaths in unclear circumstances, more than 2,000 arrests, looted shops in several cities and a group of rioters stopped 300 metres from the Élysée. NewsIT put the number of shops vandalised or looted over the weekend at at least 3,000, with damage running to several hundred million euros. Emmanuel Macron said the government would provide the necessary support to business owners who were hit.
According to 20minutes, protesters against the pension reform targeted the Amiens shop in 2023 by placing rubbish containers in front of it. NewsIT, citing a Daily Mail report, said that in May 2023 Jean-Baptiste Trogneux, the great-nephew of Brigitte Macron who runs the business, was seriously assaulted while trying to push protesters away.
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Alliance police union demanded explanations after images showed three vans outside the Trogneux chocolate shop in Amiens during the 17 October protests. The Somme prefecture says the CRS company was sent to secure the city centre instead.
AI text based on reports by NewsIT, ANSA.it, Tgcom24 and other publishers. Published .