Strasbourg Apple Store ransacked in riots over Paris police shooting

(Image credit: Apple)

The Apple Store in Strasbourg, France, was attacked on Friday following riots over the shooting of a 17-year-old boy in the suburbs of Paris last week.

In a video shared on Twitter by La Presse Libre, rioters can be seen throwing stones and breaking the windows of the store to get inside. According to La Presse, multiple iPhones and other Apple products were stolen in the process.

The unrest comes after Nahel Merzouk was shot and killed by police in a traffic stop, and a video of the killing was shared online. There have been riots across France, with thousands of arrests and vehicles set alight. The Interior Minister of France has deployed 40,000 troops nationwide, and as of Monday, the riots appear to be easing.

As it stands, the Apple Store in Strasbourg, east of Paris and close to the German border, is temporarily closed for the whole of this coming week.

:red_circle:DIRECT- Le Apple Store de Strasbourg à été pris pour cible, plusieurs iPhone et autres appareils ont été dérobé. pic.twitter.com/wmmW7s48bSJune 30, 2023

Not for the first time

In other cities in France, like Bordeaux, Apple has taken precautionary measures to protect the store from destruction during the protests. The Apple Store Sainte-Catherine in Bordeaux was boarded up overnight to protect the windows, and the Apple Logo was also covered in case of damage. The store's website shows limited opening hours to start this week and indicates that some services, like the Genius Bar, may not be available.

Les fenêtres de l’Apple Store à Bordeaux sont complètement recouvertes de gros panneaux en bois, le logo de l’enseigne a lui aussi été masqué. pic.twitter.com/WoNK5z7iYtJuly 1, 2023

This isn't the first time an Apple Store has been devastated during riots. In 2020, Apple's Minneapolis store on Hennepin Avenue was ransacked by looters during riots following the death of George Floyd.

During those riots, the storefront was destroyed with sledgehammers breaking the glass and tables before the rioters left the scene. A passerby said, "Wow, just watched a bunch of cars pull up to the Apple store, and people were gathering, a sledgehammer was pulled out and took a few swings, then they retreated."

Apple is yet to comment on the damage seen in France.

John-Anthony Disotto is the How To Editor of iMore, ensuring you can get the most from your Apple products and helping fix things when your technology isn’t behaving itself. Living in Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and prides himself in his ability to complete his Apple Watch activity rings. John-Anthony has previously worked in editorial for collectable TCG websites and graduated from The University of Strathclyde where he won the Scottish Student Journalism Award for Website of the Year as Editor-in-Chief of his university paper. He is also an avid film geek, having previously written film reviews and received the Edinburgh International Film Festival Student Critics award in 2019. John-Anthony also loves to tinker with other non-Apple technology and enjoys playing around with game emulation and Linux on his Steam Deck.

In his spare time, John-Anthony can be found watching any sport under the sun from football to darts, taking the term “Lego house” far too literally as he runs out of space to display any more plastic bricks, or chilling on the couch with his French Bulldog, Kermit.