Last updated: 2026-10-19

Cost of Riots in France: Damage, Injuries and Insurance

Short answer: The June–July 2023 riots caused about €1 billion of material damage, according to the French Senate. Insurers' cost reached €793 million across 16,400 claims by March 2024 (Public Sénat). The riots burned 12,031 vehicles and damaged 2,508 buildings, and 782 police officers and gendarmes were injured (Senate summary). The 2005 riots cost insurers about €204 million (France Assureurs). No official cost total exists yet for the 17–18 October 2026 riots.

This page collects the published figures on the cost of riots in France, episode by episode. It uses official reports where they exist and says so where a figure is provisional, disputed or from a secondary source. Figures were checked on 19 October 2026.

Comparison of riot episodes in France

Counts differ by source and date. Arrest totals in particular depend on whether a source counts arrests, custody placements or suspects. The Senate summary and the Interior Ministry figures are used wherever they exist.

How much did the 2023 riots cost France?

The Senate puts the material damage of the 2023 riots at about €1 billion. That matches the government's own estimate, given by a junior minister on 31 July 2023, and it excludes lost trading income (Senate report).

Insurers' figures rose as claims were settled. France Assureurs reported €650 million on 11 July 2023 (press release), €730 million on 6 September 2023 (press release) and €793 million for 16,400 claims in March 2024 (Public Sénat). The Senate says the insured cost was four times the 2005 level (Senate summary).

Public bodies reported their own repair costs. The National Police counted €30 million, made up of €10 million for station repairs, €1 million for vehicles and €19 million for ammunition and equipment. The Justice Ministry announced €5 million to rebuild its buildings (Senate report).

How many police were injured?

In 2023, 782 police officers and gendarmes were injured: 674 police and 108 gendarmes. Three firefighters were also injured, and none of the injured officers' lives was in danger (Senate report). A single night, 29 to 30 June, accounted for 288 injured police (Senate report).

About 45,000 police and gendarmes were deployed at the peak, compared with about 11,500 in 2005 (Senate report). In 2005, 217 police and gendarmes were injured, according to a 2006 ministerial answer cited by the Senate (Senate report). Another count by sociologists gives 808 for 2023 (La Vie des idées).

On 17 October 2026 the Interior Minister's consolidated count was 997 police and gendarmes injured, 7 of them seriously (ICI). That count covers one day of nationwide protests and disorder, and it is provisional. The PSG celebrations of 2026 left 57 police and gendarmes injured (Actu17).

What public buildings were attacked?

In 2023, 2,508 buildings were burned or damaged. They included 273 police or gendarmerie buildings, 105 town halls and 243 schools (Senate summary). School counts differ: the Education Minister cited 243 damaged schools (LCP), while a search summary of Maire-info reports an Interior Ministry count of 168 school attacks (Maire-info). The Senate calls these targets "republican symbols" (Senate summary). On the first two nights alone, 8 town halls, 27 police stations and 6 schools were attacked (Maire-info).

Libraries were also hit, but counts differ. The Culture Ministry counted 47, the Culture Minister was reported as citing more than 150, and the librarians' association spoke of about fifty (Livres Hebdo; Assemblée amendment). These counts were seen only in search summaries.

Attacks on mayors and elected officials. The Senate recorded 684 acts of violence against elected officials and public-service staff between 27 June and 7 July 2023. It calls this unprecedented in level and violence (Senate report). In L'Haÿ-les-Roses, on the night of 1 to 2 July, a burning car was rammed into the gate of mayor Vincent Jeanbrun's home while his wife and two children were inside. He called it an attempted assassination (Senate report). The mayor of Pontoise told the Senate mission that masked youths fired mortar fireworks at her at point-blank range (Senate summary). Separately, the national monitoring centre recorded 2,478 offences against elected officials in 2025 and 2,501 in 2024, with the peak in 2023 (Weka summary of the CALAÉ report).

October 2026. Press reports describe the Limoges town hall set on fire on 17 October, with its bell tower collapsing about 20:30. The building was inaugurated in 1883 and is listed, and the report mentions no injuries (Orange). Radio-Canada reports town halls or prefectures stormed in Marseille, Lille, Angers and Bordeaux (Radio-Canada). These are early accounts, and the cause of the Limoges fire was under investigation.

What did the riots cost businesses and insurers?

In 2023, the Senate counts about 1,500 shops vandalised or looted, including 436 tobacconists and 370 bank branches (Senate summary). In Marseille city centre, about 400 shops were vandalised, according to the local chamber of commerce quoted by the Senate (Senate report).

France Assureurs broke down the €730 million of September 2023 by type of policyholder. Professionals made 41% of claims and 65% of the cost. Local authorities made 4% of claims and 27% of the cost. Vehicles were 46% of claims but 6% of the cost, and private property 9% of claims and 2% of the cost (press release). By region, Île-de-France accounted for 38.9% of claims and 42.5% of the cost (Senate summary).

The business federation MEDEF estimated on 3 July 2023 a cost to firms above €1 billion, including €500–700 million of operating losses and excluding tourism. The Senate notes this was an early estimate (Senate report). The Senate also concluded there was no major macroeconomic effect beyond reconstruction costs, citing the national statistics institute INSEE (Senate report). The hotel and restaurant federation reported that bookings fell about 0.5% on 2 July 2023 and rose about 1% the next day (GHR).

Insurers' figures understate the total. They cover only declared and accepted claims, about 10% of claims were refused, and many public buildings are self-insured (Senate report).

How much did the New Caledonia riots cost?

The local government estimated the cost of the May 2024 crisis at about €2.2 billion, made up of €1.2 billion of private damage and €1 billion of public infrastructure (Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes). A Wikipedia compilation gives estimates of up to about €3 billion (Wikipedia). The two figures differ and neither is an insurers' total.

The unrest began on 13 May 2024 over a constitutional reform to widen the provincial electorate, which Kanak independence groups opposed. A state of emergency ran from 16 to 28 May, and the reform was suspended on 12 June and withdrawn in October 2024 (Wikipedia). It was not a mainland immigration riot.

Are car burnings rising on New Year's Eve?

Interior Ministry figures show three successive annual increases since 2022–23, but the latest total is still below 2019. Vehicles burned on New Year's Eve were 690 in 2022–23 (Ma Commune), 745 in 2023–24 (ICI), 984 in 2024–25 (ICI) and 1,173 in 2025–26 (franceinfo). In 2019 the figure was 1,316 (Ma Commune). The 2020 figure is not comparable because of curfew rules.

Arrests were 490 in 2022–23, 380 in 2023–24, 420 in 2024–25 and 505 in 2025–26 (Ma Commune; ICI; franceinfo). The ministry described 2025–26 as calmer in the neighbourhoods, with fewer attacks on police despite more burned vehicles (franceinfo). The 2023–24 figure came from a search summary of the ICI article.

What is known about the cost of the October 2026 riots?

No official total exists as at 19 October 2026. The 17 October mobilisation drew 550,000 to 800,000 marchers, depending on the source, and ended with 2,397 arrests and 997 injured police and gendarmes (ICI). These figures are provisional and rose over 24 hours. Disorder continued in Paris on 18 October (Radio-Canada).

No national count of burned vehicles had been published. The retail and distribution federation (FCD) said about 1,500 shops were targeted across France, with damage of "several hundred million euros" (France 24). Radio-Canada attributed the same figure to Marseille alone (Radio-Canada). It is an industry estimate, not an audited total. The Paris retailers' federation asked for state aid (franceinfo). The Interior Minister convened a crisis cell on economy, insurance and judicial follow-up on 19 October (ICI).

For context, officials did not present the October 2026 violence as immigration-triggered, and no nationwide nationality breakdown of those arrested has been published (ICI). The benchmark most reports use is the 2023 insured cost of about €730–793 million.

Who pays for riot damage?

Based on the Senate's findings, the costs of 2023 fell on several payers:

• Insurers bore an insured cost of €793 million, mostly for professional and local-authority property (Public Sénat; France Assureurs).
• The State announced €100 million for affected communes on 26 October 2023, and a reconstruction law was passed on 25 July 2023 to speed rebuilding (Senate report).
• Regions also contributed. Île-de-France created a €20 million emergency fund on 5 July 2023, and other regions committed over €50 million in total (Senate report).
• Municipalities bore costs not covered by insurance. Of 31 communes that gave the Senate a figure, 17 reported more than €500,000 and eight more than €5 million (Senate report).
• State services paid for their own damage, as the police and justice figures above show (Senate report).

A Maire-info summary of a Senate survey found rebuilding unfinished in many communes nine months later (Maire-info), seen only as a search summary.

What were the human costs?

2023. Besides Nahel Merzouk, aged 17, whose death on 27 June 2023 triggered the riots, the Senate records two deaths directly linked to them: a 54-year-old man hit by a stray bullet in Cayenne and a 27-year-old man in Marseille who collapsed on a scooter. An autopsy found a chest mark consistent with a baton-type or flash-ball impact, and a judicial inquiry was opened (Senate report). Two further deaths were recorded without a proven link: a firefighter in Seine-Saint-Denis and a 19-year-old at Petit-Quevilly (Senate report).

More than 1,000 people were injured in total, which the Senate calls a low estimate, including at least about 40 seriously injured rioters or members of the public (Senate summary; Senate report). The police inspectorate opened 40 judicial investigations into serious injuries to civilians presumed caused by officers (Senate report). The officer who shot Nahel Merzouk is presumed innocent while the case continues; a Versailles court heard it on 29 September 2026 and no decision had been found (Entrevue).

New Caledonia, 2024. A Wikipedia compilation lists 14 deaths, including 2 gendarmes (Wikipedia). On 22 May 2024 the authorities still held the toll at six and called higher claims false (LNC).

PSG celebrations. The 2025 night left 2 deaths and more than 190 injured (Al Jazeera). Prosecutors later treated one death, a 17-year-old stabbed in Dax, as the result of a pre-existing personal dispute (France 24). In 2026, the Interior Minister reported 1 death, 57 injured officers and 219 other people injured, 8 of them seriously (Actu17). Later press figures for 2026 are higher, and the consolidated total is unconfirmed.

17–18 October 2026. Besides the 997 injured officers, a 17-year-old in Saint-Étienne lost a hand. Reuters attributes it to a stun grenade the teenager picked up, while French Wikipedia and Radio-Canada cite a police grenade according to a source, so the cause is disputed (Spokesman-Review/Reuters; Radio-Canada). A young woman lost an eye in Mulhouse, and the police watchdog was seized (Radio-Canada). One protester collapsed in Paris, and authorities said it was a medical episode unrelated to violence or police action (Radio-Canada).

Related pages

• The 2023 Nahel riots
• Recent riots 2024–2026
• Macron's record on immigration
• FAQ