Chaos Erupts as Shoppers Fight Over Air Conditioners Amid Heatwave

[Anchor]

Western Europe is suffering severely from a deadly heatwave brought on by climate change. In France, where cooling appliances are in short supply, a discount event for air conditioners at a supermarket turned violent as crowds clashed.

Kwon Yeongin reports from Paris.

[Reporter]

People gathered in front of a large supermarket early in the morning.

As soon as the doors opened, the orderly line vanished, and punches were thrown by those angry over people cutting in.

Inside the store, a fierce brawl broke out to secure air conditioners, with people screaming while desperately clutching the units in their hands.

One man even forcibly snatched an air conditioner from a woman.

Another woman, unable to get an air conditioner, was seen collapsed as if she had fainted while holding two electric fans.

This occurred on July 2, local time, during a cooling appliance discount event held by a major supermarket in France.

France, which suffered from a heatwave exceeding 40°C (104°F) late last month, had run out of air conditioner stock. When half-price units were released, the scene turned into complete chaos.

[Aziz / Merchant near the supermarket: It was really like a battlefield. It was a mess. Mothers were collapsing in the middle of the fighting, people were pushing each other, fathers were hitting others. I have never seen such a scene in my life.]

In France, where there are regulations on air conditioner installation, the penetration rate of air conditioning is around 25%.

Amid the deadly heat, the issue of air conditioning has even become a political point of contention between the far-right, which calls for the installation of large-scale cooling facilities in hospitals and schools, and the left-wing, which opposes it due to carbon emissions.

In other European countries such as Germany and the UK, demand for portable air conditioners that can bypass installation regulations has skyrocketed, making them impossible to find even at a premium price.

[Oliver Horak / UK citizen: The UK is not prepared for the heat at all. When you go to other countries, it becomes very clear how much better they have built their (cooling) infrastructure.]

With the number of excess deaths caused by the heatwave exceeding 3,000 in France and Spain alone, another wave of extreme heat is forecast for Europe this weekend.

As wildfires spread, particularly in Southern Europe, concerns over a catastrophic heatwave are growing.

(Video reporting: Kim Si-nae | Video editing: Chae Cheol-ho | Source: X(@europa·@inst_Actu·@french_report78))
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.