A French Internet Company cancelled a free money distribution plan in downtown Paris at the last minute on Saturday, sparking violence from an angry crowd waiting for the windfall.
More than 5,000 people gathered around the foot of the Eiffel Tower in the afternoon, wishing to receive a note from 5 to 500 euros (7.46-746 U.S.
dollars), which would be given away by a French internet company Mailorama.fr.
Mailorama said the money distribution was a symbolic gesture to return profit to customers, but a few hours before the settled time, the organizer
announced cancellation of the activity "for safety reasons." "We realized that it would be difficult to ensure security, Therefore I decided to cancel
all distributions of money to the public for now," said Jean-Baptiste Descroix-Vernier, chairman of Rentabiliweb, parent company of Mailorama.fr.
Even the company had hired security guards and the metal barriers had already been installed, the feverish crowd is far from being under control.
The abandon of this advertising campaign raised tensions immediately.
Out of disappointment, some rage people reacted violently. A car was overturned. Police were pelted with projectiles. A dozen people were arrested in this following incident.
The French government expressed unhappiness as well. Rachida Dati, mayor of Paris' seventh district, has asked Bertrand Delanoe, mayor of
Paris, to lodge file against the organizer. The French Interior Ministry spokesman later announced that it would file a formal suit under the charge
of generating trouble to the public.