Maasai gang violence, disappearance of political centre

On a concrete pillar next to the Friesland-Vallonne metro station is a menu written in black felt-tip pen:

“Mach” (cocaine), €50 per gram. Country of origin: Colombia.

“Shit” (hash), 10, 30, 50 euros (depending on the quality).

Two hundred meters away, vendors sat by a tall building waiting.

No police in sight.

– Avoid taking photos near them, Amine Kessaci said, nodding to the seller.

He knows what he is talking about.

In December 2020, his brother was murdered while trying to escape the world of crime. Then Amine Kessaci was in high school. He had just founded the “Conscience” association, whose goal is to improve conditions in poor, immigrant-heavy suburbs – such as Fleurs-Vallonne, north of Marseille.

Now, at the age of 20, Amine Kessaci has entered politics. He is the candidate of the New Popular Front, a left-wing coalition.

– I am proud of my old students, says teacher Hanifa El Kolli, 60. Now we stop right-wing extremists!

– Yes, it is important to stop the National Assembly. But we must also discuss things that are important to the people here, such as security, said Amin Kesachi.

Last year, there were 45 gang-related murders in Marseille.

This year, the wave of violence has subsided somewhat. There have been five murders in Marseille since January. Police believe this is because one of the gangs has gained the upper hand in a war for market share. But that could soon change.

– Our solution is simple. We need to go back to the community police system that existed before, says Amin Kesachi.

In 2003, then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy ended France’s five-year trial of community police officers – despite criminologists claiming that the trial had achieved positive results.

The left argues that community policing can build better relationships with residents, thereby improving BroadCast Unitedligence gathering and potentially disrupting criminal networks.

– The National Assembly should stop talking about immigration. Because it is their sons and daughters who come here to buy drugs. If they stop it, maybe we won’t have any drug trade at all, says Amin Kesachi.

It is known that the clients of these gangs belong in many cases to the wealthy middle class. The “menus” in subway stations are prepared for these temporary visitors.

But Sebastien Soulé, a longtime Marseille police officer and candidate for Marine Le Pen’s right-wing nationalist National Rally party, said lawlessness was the fundamental problem.

– What we need is a shock of authority. And we are the only ones who can sustain it.

Sébastien Soulé himself was accused of drug trafficking but later acquitted, a case that inspired a much-anticipated feature film, Bac Nord, now streaming on Netflix.

In the film, the police use the law unscrupulously in the process of cracking down on criminal gangs.

– What we want is not impunity for the police. If the law is not respected, he said.

– The police sometimes go into these areas, but the question is what happens afterwards. We must have tougher sentences and faster sentencing. Fine discounts for minors must be abolished. If you are over 16 and arrested with a Kalashnikov, the fact that you are a minor should not be mentioned.

This message made the national collection popular in Marseille. Meanwhile, the centrist coalition of Emmanuel Macron, seen by many as responsible, has all but disappeared as a political force.

In the second round of parliamentary elections, the left-wing coalition New Popular Front is currently facing off against the National Assembly in several constituencies in Marseille.

Crime, meanwhile, has become an important national electoral issue. This year, television and radio channels such as Cnews, C8 and Europe 1 have devoted a lot of time to covering the situation in Marseille. These outlets, owned by media tycoon Vincent Bolloré, tend to give a lot of space to the presentation of issues in the National Assembly.

The regulator, Arcom, denounced their reports as biased about 40 times in three years.

Here, there are very few people with immigrant backgrounds.

– People have had enough. ‘When you walk into the centre of Marseille it’s like you’re not in France anymore,’ said Nelly Montes, 31.

Her hair salon is in the heart of what most resembles an old French village, though it’s only a twenty-minute drive from the high-rises of Fleurs-de-Walloon.

– In the crimes heard on television, the perpetrators are always immigrants. Many are also sentenced to deportation, she said.

– Yes, it’s terrible, answers Colette Tetefort, 73, who is waiting for her hair to turn chestnut brown.

Both voted for the National Assembly.

– In Marseille we have had immigrants for a long time, Italians, Spanish … but they work and they respect France. These things do nothing, says Colette Tettefort.

– I’ve been working since I was 14. But Nellie Montes said they would get all the funding immediately.

– They don’t conform. And those veils, why do they wear them? ! Explain to me. Why do they have to wear the veil all the time to harass people? Colette Tetefort exclaimed from her chair in the hair salon.

The rifts in France are widening, and few feel them more clearly than the roughly 250,000 Muslims in this city of a million.

– Yesterday a female customer commented on my veil and asked me how long I would be in France. Standing by the metro in Frais-Vallon, market vendor Fatima Benaricha, 44, said it had become more and more like this in recent weeks.

– I said I planned to stay, my children were born here and are French citizens. I have lived in France for 20 years, working and paying taxes.

She shook her head.

– They try to make fun of it. But of course it feels good. Now we start thinking about which country we could move to if Jordan Badella wins. Canada, maybe.

Fatima’s 14-year-old daughter Manal looked at her mother thoughtfully.

– It’s strange, I was born here and have lived here all my life, she says.

If the National Assembly has its way, being born in France will no longer automatically give you French citizenship in the future. Dual nationals will also be barred from certain government jobs.

President Emmanuel Macron said such proposals were a threat to the principle of equality. Warning of civil war.

Manar Benaricha, 14, believes his family will eventually leave the country if Jordan Bardella becomes prime minister after Sunday’s election.

– Not because I want to. I love France. But the injustice here… I can’t stand that we are treated so unfairly.

read more:

Eric de la Reguera: Macron’s catastrophic miscalculation – but it’s not over yet

National Collection attracts super-rich in St. Tropez