The investigation also relies on footage filmed by private individuals. About 800 amateur video files were submitted to a deposit platform created by the police prefecture, it told franceinfo on November 12, 2026.
The Paris police prefecture is bringing together all of its investigative services in an unprecedented strike force tasked with identifying the looters from the October 17 riots.
For more than three weeks, the Paris police have been conducting a manhunt of exceptional scale. They are seeking the perpetrators who swept through the capital, some of whom remain at large.
The challenge lies as much in the volume of cases as in these fugitives. Looted shopkeepers, unidentified suspects and too many proceedings for a single unit: the prefecture is organizing its response on these three fronts.
An initial tally lists 228 complaints filed by Paris shopkeepers for looting. The total reaches 450 if shops that were only damaged are included.
In those shops, storefront windows in particular were shattered, without the rioters having had time to loot them.
The scenes of destruction shocked all of France. Law enforcement, initially with their backs to the wall, then prepared the response.