This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Rebecca Mac, who owns Cosmetic Finance Group, a Manchester, UK-based aesthetics finance company, and Mc Aesthetics, a cosmetic clinic group. It has been edited for length and clarity.
On Saturday, 110 demonstrations drew 550,000 people nationwide, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, including 110,000 in Paris. Organizers put the national total at 800,000.
I went to Paris to see Céline Dion in memory of my mom.
My mom had loved Céline for years. We had tickets to see her before the pandemic in Manchester before she died, but the show was canceled. She never got to see her perform.
Friday’s concert was really emotional. “All Coming Back to Me Now” and “I’m Alive” made me emotional, but “My Heart Will Go On” was the one that really made me cry.
Seeing Céline felt like I was finally doing it for my mom. Little did I know, less than 24 hours later, my friend and I would be trapped in an Uber during the Paris riots.
We had no way of getting out
At about 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, we left Galeries Lafayette and saw what felt like a sea of people marching toward us. We were like: “Oh my god. This is crazy.” We walked away and got an Uber outside Sephora.
Every road the driver tried was closed. He told us to get out, but young men were running past the car, throwing things and banging. We said: “No, we’re not getting out of the car in the middle of this.”
Then people threw metal barriers into the road so cars could not pass. We were stuck there, panicking. Within seconds, police with riot shields charged in from the other side.
We thought the crowd was coming toward us and that we were trapped in the middle. The taxi stood still for a few minutes. It felt like we had no way of getting out.
The police formed a line in front of the car and cleared the barriers so traffic could move. It took about 20 minutes to get back to Le Damantin Hôtel & Spa, near the Champs-Élysées, where we were staying.
Roads were sectioned off, and police on motorbikes and police vans with sirens kept passing us as we drove away.
It was very stressful. It just felt very surreal and very long. We were just relieved to be back at the hotel and safe.
‘Perfect targets to be mugged’
Later that night, hotel staff locked the doors as we were leaving for dinner.
Men in balaclavas were passing outside. A staff member told us: “You cannot go out,” and said we looked like “perfect targets to be mugged.”
After waiting for about an hour, we decided to take a taxi to the restaurant, which was just around the corner.
But it stopped across the road, where another group of six masked men was standing outside. It was quite intimidating, so we walked around parked cars to avoid getting too close to them.
I wanted to get home
My Sunday flight to Manchester was delayed, so I booked a 9 a.m. flight to London and then an Uber home to Manchester.
I kept thinking about my children. We had been to Paris a couple of years earlier for Disneyland with my little girl, my niece, and my nephew. I thought: Imagine if this had happened then.
I’m so grateful I saw Céline on Friday. It is a memory I will remember forever. But I’m very upset and disappointed because I do like to go to Paris quite a lot.
The whole experience made me lose my love for Paris a bit.
Additional reporting by Amanda Goh.
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