RIOTS – Will insurance pay? (France 2026 edition)
On Saturday 17 October 2026, demonstrations over the cost of living, rising fuel prices and conditions in schools drew about 550,000 people across France by official count; organisers claimed 800,000. Most marched peacefully, but after dark, masked groups looted shops and set fires in cities including Paris, Marseille and Lyon, and the spire of a 143-year-old town hall in Limoges collapsed in flames.
Police arrested more than 2,000 people. By Tuesday, France’s justice minister put the number of looted shops at around 3,000, already above the roughly 2,500 businesses CCI France counted during the 2023 riots.
SRCC
Insurers have a name for this risk: SRCC (strikes, riots and civil commotion). Reinsurance broker Howden Re estimates that insured SRCC losses rose from negligible levels in 2013 to over $8 billion across 2020-2024. Losses swing sharply from year to year. 2025 produced relatively few claims globally, but the direction of travel is clear. Lloyd’s gave SRCC its own risk code in 2024. Verisk released its first SRCC catastrophe model in 2025. Swiss Re says its claim count has grown from a couple of dozen in the early 2000s to a couple of hundred a year. DBRS Morningstar notes that riots increasingly behave like catastrophe risks.
Pricing of such risks is changing, too. Chubb says property insurers are beginning to restrict or exclude SRCC cover that was once included at no extra cost, and Howden Re reported “significant additional premiums” for retail assets as early as 2023. Verisk Maplecroft’s first-quarter ranking of SRCC risk, which places France seventh, also lists India among the higher-risk countries.
How will insurance respond in France?
Most French shop and building policies include riot cover, according to the industry federation France Assureurs. It typically pays for fire, theft, vandalism, smashed shopfronts, and the boarding-up and security for a damaged store.
The gap is lost trade/ revenue. Business interruption cover is optional, pays on lost gross profit rather than lost sales, and normally applies only when covered physical damage forces a closure. Policyholders generally have 5 days to notify insurers (AXA and BPCE Assurances extended that to 30 days) and some covers require a police complaint (FIR).
Losses for the October 2026 riots are estimated to be €1.2 billion. For comparison, the 2023 riots produced €793 million in insured losses across roughly 17,000 claims, two-thirds of it on shops and business premises.
For insurers, the real worry is aggregation where thousands of correlated claims hitting commercial property, motor, public buildings and business interruption arise at once. France’s response is a 2026 budget law making riot cover compulsory in certain property policies, backed by a national fund (insurer contributions of up to 1.5% of premiums, plus state guarantees of up to €4 billion a year). It still awaits European Commission approval and an implementing decree, so this weekend’s claims fall under existing contracts.
What would cover riots in India?
India has no separate “riot policy.” Protection is included under existing policies such as:
- Property: IRDAI’s standard Fire and Special Perils policy lists Riot, Strike and Malicious Damage (RSMD), physical loss or damage by external violent means. Terrorism needs a separate extension at additional premium.
- Home: RSMD and terrorism cover are built into the standard Bharat Griha Raksha policy.
- Vehicles: Comprehensive motor cover treats riot damage under Own Damage. A third-party-only policy does not protect your own vehicle.
- Business interruption: Loss of profit cover generally needs a covered material-damage loss first, and India-market RSMD wording typically excludes work stoppage and consequential loss unless bought separately.
What’s important for you as a policyholder is that you read your policy schedule. Insurers can attach an RSMD exclusion endorsement, and some describe RSMD as an add-on rather than automatic. Treatment of looting also varies, the standard wording may exclude theft except as provided under the riot cover.
A Bank of Baroda case study describes an MSME shop in Manipur, partially damaged in riots, that paid a ₹6,312 premium and received a ₹17.13 lakh claim. After the 2020 North East Delhi riots, the state government announced relief of up to ₹10 lakh for deaths and ₹5 lakh for damaged homes, and asked insurers to run special claims camps, a reminder that government relief is announced case by case, while an insurance contract is a right you hold in advance.
So, when you buy or renew your policy, here are some questions you can ask:
- Is RSMD covered or excluded in my policy?
- For businesses, do I have loss-of-profit cover, and what triggers it?
- What is my claim-notice period, and did I get an FIR?
- Do I have proof such as photos, videos, newspaper articles etc.?
Keep dated photographs, stock registers and invoices, and confirm your sum insured reflects today’s replacement cost. France’s riots are a reminder that it’s time to read your policy. If you need help figuring this out, feel free to reach out to insurancepe!
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