Sorry for using English for this; I'm still quite upset and my French really isn't up to the task.

For whatever it's worth, I'm a 41-year old guy and was dressed reasonably well during all this.

I was in Paris today, and leaving Monoprix, wearing my headphones, having just bought a bag of lettuce. As I stepped out the front door, I was tackled by the door security guard. He grabbed me and pulled me back into the store. I was in shock, but took off my headphones to try to understand what was happening. The guard he was shouting at me, demanding to inspect my bag.

Normally, when I'm not wearing headphones, I open my bag when I'm asked, but I was totally confused after what had just happened and I refused. The suddenness of the tackle caught me totally off guard and I just said no. He kept shouting at me, saying it was mandatory, threatening to call the police. Two other guards came up then and the three of them surrounded me.

I was totally overwhelmed and intimidated by these guys but my mind just shut down and I kept saying no. I told him to call the police, that I would let them check, but not him. There was nothing in my bag except the lettuce, so I wasn't worried about privacy, I was just really distressed. He kept insisting and shouting at me. I said if he wasn't calling the police, I was going to leave, and then I tried to go but he forcibly shoved me back into the store.

They held me there for about twenty minutes, over and over, demanding to look in my bag and threatening to call the police, but wouldn't let me go, even when I asked them to call the police or let me leave.

After what felt like forever, they all suddenly turned and walked away without saying anything more. I'm assuming their boss watched the CCTV footage and saw that I hadn't taken anything. It's been two hours and and I'm still shaken.

Like I said, I know they have a right to ask to look in my bag, but I have a right to refuse and to wait if they want to call the police, but their aggressiveness really caught me off guard and when they kept shouting instead of actually calling the police, I didn't know what to do.. Typically, I comply when I'm asked to open my bag, but this situation overwhelmed me.

I don't understand why I'm sharing this now, but is this behavior common from security guards in France? I've never experienced it before, and I'm genuinely shaken.