France at ‘tipping point’ after shoot-out involving ‘400 gang members’

[Pelican Press 0]

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France at ‘tipping point’ after ******-out involving ‘400 gang members’

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has reached a “tipping point” on *****-related *********, the country’s hardline interior minister warned on Friday, after hundreds of people took part in a massive ******-out.

The gunfight, which left a teenager fighting for his life and four others seriously wounded, erupted overnight in the western city of Poitiers.

Police intervened at around 10.45pm after shots were fired outside a restaurant in the Couronneries district of the city and found the first casualty on the ground.

Treated for a bullet wound to the head, the 15-year-old was taken to hospital and was in a critical condition, a police source said. A witness said the teenager was a customer caught in the crossfire.

According to the same source, two other teenagers were shot, one in the shoulder and the other in the ankle, and were treated by the emergency services. Around ten 22-calibre shells were found on the ground by the investigators.

“What started as a ********* at a restaurant ended up in a ****** between rival gangs that involved several hundred people. I’m told by the local (state) prefect that four to six hundred people were involved,” said French interior minister Bruno Retailleau, adding that police reinforcements were being sent to the city.

Cyril Lacombe, the local prosecutor, countered the claim that up to 600 people were involved, confirming that “50 to 60 people” clashed in a ****** following the *********.

Macron’s ‘meagre’ response

A total of five teenagers aged 15 and 16 were injured and an investigation into attempted ********* has been opened.

“The initial findings of the investigation suggest that the shooter had been selling drugs in the Couronneries area in the previous few days,“ Lacombe said.

Mr Retailleau was due to travel later on Friday to the northwestern city of Rennes, where a five-year-old child was also between life and ****** after being shot in the head in another shootout on Saturday related to

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.

He said: “These shootings are not happening in South America, they’re happening in Rennes and Poitiers.

“We are at a tipping point and the choice is between a general mobilisation or the Mexicanisation of the country.”

The ********* follows a recent

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, which warned that the country was “submerged” by ***** dealing and that president Emmanuel Macron’s response was “meagre” and “not up to the task”.

It states: “Contrary to the cliché that ***** trafficking is

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stretching from the northern suburbs of Marseille to ‘****** hill’ in Paris, and perhaps a few festivals, ***** dealing has spread to medium-sized and even small towns and rural areas.”

******* slice of drugs business

With ******** flooding France from South America, consumption on the rise and historic bastions like Marseille saturated, organised ****** is

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to the provinces in search of a ******* slice of an annual drugs business of between €3 billion (£2.5 bn) to €6 billion (£5 bn).

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, the French anti-drugs agency, warned: “From Verdun to Valence, a number of sensitive neighbourhoods in medium-sized towns have been the scene of armed clashes.”

They’ve also added that “smaller urban areas” are no longer spared “kidnappings, ********* and even *******”.

Mr Retailleau has called for the ****** against ***** trafficking to become “a national cause” similar to that against terrorism.

He wants the government to take up some of the senatorial report proposals such as the creation of a status for repentant ***** traffickers and a dedicated national drugs prosecutor’s office.

“We are going to set up a ‘task force’ to break up the ecosystem’ of ***** trafficking,” he said on Friday, stressing the importance of a “global strategy” to try to curb the phenomenon.

Increasing youth *********

There is rising public concern over the issue of youth *********, often *****-related.

In Marseille, where a record 49 murders were committed last year, prosecutors warn that teenagers are increasingly involved in ***** battles involving ******** rifles and handguns, and even hit “low-cost” jobs.

Two rival gangs – DZ ****** and Yoda – are together blamed for most of the killings that have rocked the French port city of 860,000 people.

Last month, a 15-year-old boy, apparently on his way to carry out a hit on behalf of DZ, was cornered by rivals, stabbed at least 50 times and then set on ***** while he was still alive.

Two days later, another 14-year-old hired to avenge his ********, instead shot ***** Nessim Ramdane, a part-time driver for the taxi app Bolt.

Mr Retailleau is due to travel to Marseille next Friday with Didier Migaud, the justice minister, to announce new measures.

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