Nice video-game shop manager praised for standing firm as rioters attacked store

Pierre Collin, manager of a Micromania video-game store on Avenue Jean-Medecin in Nice, was attacked by a group of looters on Saturday 17 October as he tried to stop them entering his already-vandalised shop, Actu.fr reported. Footage shared on social media showed him struck from behind and knocked to the ground before getting back up and continuing to stand in the doorway.

Collin suffered a sprained ankle but said others had been more seriously hurt, Nice-Matin reported. He said the most distressing part of the day was not his own treatment but seeing children caught between rioters and police amid tear gas, whom he brought into the shop for safety, along with a customer who had a panic attack and tourists caught between the two sides.

Footage of Collin standing guard beside a poster of the Dragon Ball Z character Goku went viral, earning him messages of support from around the world and the nickname "the Goku of Nice", 7sur7 reported. Speaking to French radio station Ici, he said he had acted without thinking it through and that what he did was probably not sensible.

Fourteen people were jailed and two minors placed in detention over the weekend's violence and looting in Nice, Nice-Matin separately reported.

Fraudulent fundraising pages were set up using Collin's name without his permission, prompting him to ask for them to be taken down and to direct donations instead to an official fund for Nice's affected shopkeepers, Actu.fr reported. More than 18,000 euros had already been raised through the one fundraising page he did endorse, Actu.fr said.

Micromania's head office said it offered its full support to staff who had faced "unacceptable" treatment and praised their courage and composure, without naming Collin directly. Collin himself thanked supporters on Instagram, saying he and his team were deeply touched by the response.