Icelandic woman recounts terrifying night during Paris riots

An Icelandic woman in Paris says she was terrified when riots erupted near her hotel on Saturday. Agnes Gestsdóttir, who is in the French capital on a work trip with a colleague, described the scenes to mbl.is as being like a war zone.

Agnes said she knew protests were planned but did not realise how serious the situation had become or that her hotel was at the centre of the unrest. She could not find a taxi driver willing to take her there, so she travelled by train. As she left the station, she encountered explosions and clouds of smoke.

She and her colleague eventually reached the hotel, where the manager had spent the night keeping watch. Buildings and businesses nearby were badly damaged. A shop opposite the hotel was blasted open and looted, and a residential building next door burned to the ground.

Agnes is still in Paris. She said the city was calm when they woke on Sunday and that much of the area had been cleaned, but damage to the property of people uninvolved in the unrest remained visible. “I have never been this afraid,” she said.