TRUE OR FALSE. Has Grenoble town hall published a poster to “explain how to live near a deal point?”

For several days, a poster from the city of Grenoble has been circulating on social networks and causing controversy. We see the subtitle “how to live on a daily basis near a deal point?”. In reality, it is not a tutorial but a show about social diversity. It was the town hall which added this subtitle.

“In Grenoble you pay a property tax so that someone can explain to you how to live with a deal point!”quips an Internet user on X (ex-Twitter). “Public money to invite us to live next to a deal point”, “Eric Piolle doesn’t miss one”, “it’s a tutorial, a drug promotion”, others protest. Reactions are multiplying on the networks, calling into question the city of Grenoble.

At the origin of the controversy: a poster for an event scheduled for Tuesday January 9, shared by many Internet users. We see children playing, and parents walking. A fairly banal poster in itself. It is the subtitle which arouses the controversy, written on a black banner: “How to live on a daily basis near a deal point?” The union of police officers and commissioners itself denounces a “lunar” poster for an “educational show” on the scourge of drugs. Does this poster really exist? Is this a “tutorial” to “explain how to live near a deal point”? Franceinfo takes stock.

A poster that exists but Grenoble town hall added the subtitle

This poster exists. It is visible on the Grenoble city magazine website. This is a poster for a musical show, accessible from 11 years old, scheduled for Tuesday January 9 at the Maison des Habitant-es Chorier Berriat and followed by a debate with the residents. This piece, entitled “Les amis d’en bas, chronicle of a daily life in the Magnolia city” was created six years ago, in 2018, by the Artiflette company. Since then, it has toured throughout France, with more than 80 dates, including two already in Grenoble, the company told franceinfo. But the piece was never presented with this subtitle: “how to live near a deal point?”. Grenoble town hall, organizer of the event, added it to the poster. We have seen the original poster: this inscription, which is controversial, did not appear there. “It was validated by the company but within a very short time frame“, says Ignace, one of the actors.

A “testimony” on a “complex reality” and not a “tutorial”

The room is not a “educational show” For “learn to live near a deal point”, as some Internet users assure us and as the subtitle might suggest. This musical tale is inspired by the journey of the two actors: it tells the story of a couple who settle in a public housing project to “experiment with social diversity”. The couple makes many enriching encounters, but also discovers the violence of this neighborhood. Traffickers, in particular, set up shop in their stairwells. “It is the testimony of a daily” and a “complex reality”, explains Ignace, one of the actors. The title “Friends from below” is also a double meaning: it refers to the dealers who have set up in the building, who cause “tensions”but which are also at the origin of “magnificent moments of solidarity”insists the artist.

A “controversy fueled by several reactionary accounts on social networks”, denounces the city of Grenoble

The show does not only talk about drugs and even less gives advice on learning to live with them. For the Artiflette company, this subtitle is a “clumsiness” from the city. The town hall of Grenoble, contacted by franceinfo, speaks of a “wrong interpretation”. She specifies that the play is organized with the support of the State via Mildeca, the Interministerial Mission to Combat Drugs and Addictive Behaviors. The objective according to her is to “freeing the floor on the negative impact of drug trafficking”, on the occasion of this type of spectacle. The city denounces a “controversy fueled by several reactionary accounts on social networks”.

Due to the lively controversy on social networks, the Artiflette company requested Tuesday evening, January 9, the postponement of the show because “at this point, play [leur] would seem counterproductive in relation to the initial project and our desire to create a peaceful dialogue in the neighborhood”.