Many Maltese people were shocked by the scenes of riots, looting and violent unrest in Paris, but Maria Victoria Schembri has more skin in the game than most.
The owner of La Bête Noire restaurant in Paris, Ms Schembri has witnessed the devastating impact of the riots on fellow business owners with her own eyes and is acutely aware of the threat such unrest poses to her own business.
“As a businesswoman, it’s heartbreaking,” Ms Schembri tells WhosWho.mt.
“I have friends whose businesses were robbed and destroyed. They dedicated their lives to open these establishments, not to mention the high taxes and charges we pay in Paris, only for a group of people to just burst in and destroy it all.”
“Many people argue that damage to business during protests is collateral damage, but that’s only true to a certain extent. It can’t be that we reach a situation where I feel worried about the safety of my workers or feel scared to open up in the morning."
That being said, she also defended the people who protested against the state of France’s education system, whose concerns have been somewhat overshadowed by the riots that followed.
“The situation isn’t so straightforward,” Ms Schembri tells WhosWho.mt. “A manifestation, which is like a general political meeting in Malta, took place and people didn’t attend with the intention of causing damage or destruction.”
“I remember the Yellow Vests protests, and it was clear back then that protestors were angry and wanted to destroy stuff but it wasn’t the case this time.”
She said that the riots involved different groups of people, who appeared extremely organised and had a certain level of know-how, such as how to open restaurant shutters.
“I’m sure many of them didn’t even know what the protest was about and that they just wanted to loot and cause havoc,” she said, also warning that police beat up and gassed protestors but weren’t present when the riots and looting started.
Ms Schembri stressed that the original protests were driven by legitimate concerns over the deteriorating state of France’s education system.
“I have a 16-year-old daughter who goes to a good school, but if you look at the suburbs and other area, you can spot the effects of serious budget cuts, including schools without enough teachers and water leaking into classrooms.”
“If Maltese schools had these kinds of problems, I think people would be very worried.”
Even more worryingly, she pointed out that a disturbing child abuse scandal was uncovered in France, and several school officials were suspended and charged for allegedly sexually abusing children.
And the lack of background checks on supervisors was laid bare when an undercover French journalist discovered that she could be recruited to work with children in just a few minutes.
Moreover, Ms Schembri pointed out that many people in France are living on the poverty line; many people live in small chambres de bonne and thousands of people died from excess heat exposure last summer.
She said the people of France are passionate about defending their rights and can “smell a threat to their rights from a mile away”. Even firefighters took part in a recent manifestation to protest budget cuts and lack of government support to deal with wildfires.
“Protests are part and parcel of how people operate here, so you can’t just say that protests aren’t allowed. It will just be seen as fascist,” she said.
“This might be a bit hard for the Maltese to understand; in Malta your rights are taken away from you and the people don’t even realise. It might be because France was a coloniser while Malta was colonised; I think this could have left long-term collective psychological effects.”
Ms Schembri said there is “a lot of uncertainty in the air” and that many people feel distraught and demoralised. She also has enough experience with Paris protests to suspect that more civil unrest could soon follow.
“If this happens every weekend, we could really suffer business-wise but I’m bracing myself for it,” she said.
“It’s a pity that this is happening during the best months for our business, ahead of the festive season. It could also impact tourism as people could watch the news and think twice about visiting Paris, which would be a pity.”
More Paris protests have been scheduled for the weekend, and the French Government has pledged a vastly reinforced security operation after acknowledging that the authorities lost control during the initial riots.
Partial curfews have also been imposed in parts of the country.
