Tipping point: How drug trafficking became a ‘national cause’ in France
France is grappling with an alarming surge in drug-related violence, from grisly murders in Marseille to deadly clashes in smaller towns. As criminal networks thrive, the government has declared the fight against trafficking a “national cause” – but experts warn the crisis may be spiralling beyond the control of law enforcement. Reports of drug-related violence have littered French headlines in recent weeks. A teenage boy was stabbed 50 times and burned alive in a drug-related killing in Marseille last month. A few days later, a 36-year-old football player was shot in cold blood by a minor. The murders both took place in Marseille, the country’s second-largest city, but also one of its poorest – and currently the epicentre of gang violence linked to drug trafficking. But smaller cities, towns and even rural areas are also seeing unprecedented violence linked to drug trafficking and the settling of scores. An incident in Rennes in northwestern France left a 5-year-old with bullet injuries on October 26 while in Poitiers, home to about 90,000 inhabitants, a 15-year-old boy died after being shot in the head during a bloody duel between drug gangs on October 31. The spike in cases of fatal violence around drug dealing has even prompted the Marseille courts to coin a new catch-all term, “narcohomicide”, to describe people killed in situations linked to drug trafficking, sometimes for simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time. France’s former interior minister Gérald Darmanin dubbed drug trafficking the “greatest threat to national unity” this past May. And the current government has continued to take a hard line on the issue since coming to power in June. Current Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on November 1 that the situation in France had reached a “tipping point”. The country faces an ultimatum, he said: “full mobilisation” or “Mexicanisation”– a term used to describe the scale of drug trafficking in France that risks reaching levels similar to those in Mexico, where drug-related violence is rampant in some areas. The fight against the drug trade has now become a “national cause”, according to both Retailleau and Justice Minister Didier Migaud, who spoke out on the issue in Marseille last week. 14 November 2024 FULL Story: France 24
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