By Elizabeth Howcroft and Ardee NAPOLITANO
PARIS, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Parisians are buying tear-gas cannisters and pepper sprays to defend themselves and their property during protests, which are expected to continue over the weekend, the owner of a weapons shop in the French capital told Reuters.
France was hit by its worst social unrest in years last weekend as nationwide protests over high prices and declining public services erupted into riots. A town hall was torched, shops pillaged and buildings
covered in graffiti as violent groups clashed with police in cities across the country.
Police have authorised only a union demonstration in Paris on Saturday, rejecting requests for rallies lodged by France's main student union, UNEF, and the anti-establishment Yellow Vest movement.
At the Armurerie de la Bourse weapons shop in central Paris, owner Yves Gollety told Reuters he has seen a big increase in the sale of non-lethal weapons since the weekend. Shops just 30 metres (33 yards) away had been looted, with their shutters torn off, he said.
"It's the first time that we've seen such an increase, and with all segments of the population," Gollety said, adding that his customers include shopkeepers, restaurant owners and individuals.
"People have been physically traumatised and are afraid," he said.
The top-selling products are pepper sprays and tear-gas cannisters, which Gollety said could only be used in self-defence. Gollety, who is also president of the national association of gunsmiths, told French newspaper Le Parisien that orders had increased tenfold.
Members of the public are only allowed to buy small cannisters under 100 millilitres in size, Gollety said. Reuters found no evidence that people in Paris were buying other types of weapons in response to the protests.
Alain Di Crescenzo, the president of France's chamber of commerce, urged shopkeepers to refrain from using weapons to defend their businesses. Speaking on the radio station Europe 1 on Friday, he said that he had personally seen shopkeepers arming themselves with baseball bats, crowbars and shotguns. Reuters was not able to independently verify this.
“It’s extremely worrying,” he said. “It’s not their job to do that... It would add suffering onto suffering."
"The police must be left to do their jobs and I recommend the utmost caution," he added.
"YOU HAVE TO BE PREPARED"
A shopkeeper who sells motorbikes and scooters in Paris' 15th arrondissement told Reuters he bought three large tear-gas cannisters, plus another small one, to protect his shop.
"You can be taken by surprise, with people arriving without any prior warning. So you have to be prepared," said the shopkeeper, who asked not to be identified.
France's government has pledged tougher security, and will deploy 70,000 police backed by specialist units for protests on Saturday, but the increase in people considering how to defend themselves illustrates Parisians' fears as the weekend approaches.
One man visiting Gollety's shop, a 58-year-old finance worker who did not want to be identified, said he had researched self-defence options, although he had ultimately not bought anything on this occasion.
"Given what happened last week and the risk it happens again next weekend, I would prefer to be sensible and protect myself," he said, adding he had had a longstanding feeling of being unsafe.
"I've been thinking about this for a long time and I think I'm going to take some steps," he said.
Elsewhere in Paris, Yvan Weiss, who owns a finance consulting firm, told Reuters he was taking steps to avoid his shop's windows being broken.
Asked if he considered getting pepper spray or other defensive gear, he said he had thought about it but in the end decided to get mechanical metal shutters for his shopfront instead.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft, Ardee Napolitano and Stephane Nitschke; Additional reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Toby Chopra)
