It's a classic problem with mass civil disobedience. All the elites have to do is simply wait for a selfish minority who'll choose to use the opportunity to enrich themselves at the expense of their fellows. Then they can frame the entire movement as violent and base.

Im not advocating against civil disobedience, but you need solidarity to avoid this.

It's still a good cause. Just because a few hundred assholes take advantage of the situation doesn't mean the hundred of thousands that went to the street to protest peacefully are wrong

FYI the topic of protest was "life is too expensive." So there's really no mystery as to why people are stealing.

More generally, looting is to be expected in a society that constantly tells us the meaning of life and our our moral worth is based on what we own, all the while denying most people any chance to actually own anything. Looting is one of the monstrous avatars of capitalism.

It happens in every worthwhile protest. If you see it more it's partly because the media wants you to, partly because things are so bad your country has been letting more people feel this is okay.

Also, everyone thinks the French revolution was so cool, but beheadings weren't normal back then either, it probably wasn't the most well-spoken of the protestors doing that violence either.

How do you know they're selfish, evil people?

During riots, people often loot markets for food and water. Which makes perfect sense: they aren't carrying a lot of resources and a night of high adrenaline rioting will exhaust and dehydrate people.

The only real solution is to provide access to cheap or free food and water throughout and after, but who is going to do that?

The stores themselves could lock up the pricey stuff and offer water access and cheapo food stuff, ask for payment, but not lock their doors or make a huff if people don't pay. But they'd have to plan for it, and not every business is going to be riot savey.

Besides, most biz are covered by insurance, so not really a big deal.