The ongoing protests in France have continued to pitch in intensity, leading to nationwide riots with thousands of arrests. Curfews implemented on Tuesday have allowed for some order, while the possibility of deploying the military remains open.

October 17 was particularly destructive as several buildings were damaged by looting and arson, most notably the 143-year-old Hôtel de Ville in Limoges. During the day, two historic motorcycle shops were also targeted.

In Paris, Dafy Moto’s flagship store was looted. Dafy released the following statement:

On October 17, our historic store in Paris, located in the 11th arrondissement for over 48 years, suffered significant looting and damage during the demonstration.

This is a difficult situation that affects us all, but especially the team that keeps this store running on a daily basis. It’s a place you know well, where you’re used to coming to talk about motorcycles, find advice, and share a common passion.

Behind this store, there are first and foremost people, colleagues, a team who dedicates themselves every day and who should never have had to experience this.

We are thinking of them and sending our full support to our team. We stand with you. We also thank all our customers for their many messages of support, which touch us deeply.

We remain committed and are doing everything we can to welcome you back in the best possible conditions, as soon as we can. We look forward to welcoming you back to this historic location for our brand and to reviving, together with you, the store that has been part of our history for over 48 years.

Dafy is the largest distributor of motorcycle parts in France with several locations around the country. Through its Angoulême store, it’s the primary sponsor of Dakar Rally regular Charlie Herbst.

He began competing with Dafy on his firesuit at the 2025 Dakar, where he finished 15th in Rally2. In the 2026 race, Herbst alternated between his red-and-black Dafy suit and a white-yellow-red-purple version en route to a 20th in class.

In Nice, Jacky Onda Yamaha and its staff were confronted by rioters. Jacques Onda, the current owner of the shop, told Nice-Matin that the assailants were mainly teenagers and included some neighborhood kids whom he recognized and surmised had been swept up in the mob mentality.

The looters took a Yamaha Ténéré 700 out onto the street, which they filmed while shouting to subscribe to their channel. His father’s helmet from when he won the French national championship was also stolen, along with Arai helmets worth €900 each. Conversely, they failed to get the cash register.

Onda noted there were eight workers in the shop when the looters arrived at around 5:20 PM. He wasn’t in the shop at the time and “raced over like a madman. I was driving while following the live surveillance camera feed.” Things escalated into a borderline siege from there.

“My employees were courageous, too courageous for my liking,” he said. “They stood up to the looters and tried to recover equipment. They took risks, but I would have preferred that they left it. Those kids fired mortar-style fireworks into the shop. With the motorcycles and gasoline, everything could’ve gone up in flames.”

A meeting was held on Tuesday morning to give everyone a break. Onda plans to reopen the store eventually, but added he feels disillusioned about being targeted like this.

Jacky Onda Yamaha is the oldest Yamaha distributor in Europe, passed down four generations in one of France’s legendary motorcycle racing families. The store opened in 1927 and began selling Yamahas to the French market in 1963. Jacques Onda I won nearly ten French moto championships in the 1950s and ’60s, followed by his son Jacky who went on to race in the European Championship and MotoGP. Jacques III ran an endurance racing team. 2002 FIM 125cc world champion Arnaud Vincent and 2004 FIM Endurance World Championship winner Sébastien Gimbert got their starts with the Onda outfit.

The store was specifically situated at a location that would ensure it could stay within the family.

Featured image credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI / ASO