“It’s a huge waste”: a faculty in Marseille, France’s second city, will temporarily close premises in the city center in the face of growing insecurity linked to drug trafficking in its surroundings.
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A port city marked by strong inequalities, Marseille has been affected by drug trafficking for decades. But the level of violence to control points of sale of these illegal substances is increasing there, as in other cities in France.
And, “after months of concern and alert, the dean of the faculty of economics and management of the Colbert site in Marseille took the decision to close access to this building to students and staff, due to lack of be able to ensure their safety,” wrote the president of the university Eric Berton in a letter of which AFP obtained a copy, addressed to the prefect of the department and the prefect of police, as well as to the prosecutor and the mayor of Marseille .
Staff and students at this site will work remotely from Friday until October 13. A decision that could be renewed.
“It is (…) about denouncing the conditions of unsanitary conditions and insecurity around the faculty,” explained the dean of the faculty Bruno Decreuse, Wednesday, in front of the premises located a stone’s throw from the Old Port, the historic center of the city.
Some 1,500 students, 170 teachers and dozens of administrative staff attend this branch of the University, located in a poor neighborhood, according to the dean.
“There is a deal point that has grown a lot this summer. All day long, we hear them shouting to sell their goods, it’s like fishmongers,” one of the staff members, who requested anonymity, told AFP.
One of his colleagues, who says he is “very attached to this site (…) in this working-class neighborhood”, speaks of a “huge waste”.
Students were worried on Wednesday about being remote, hoping for action for the faculty to reopen and for a more peaceful environment.
“It is obviously out of the question that the public service will give in under the influence of narcotics and that the university will change location,” insisted the sub-prefect of police of the Bouches-du-Rhône department, Yannis Bouzar, on the spot. who promised to “intensify the presence” of law enforcement.
Likewise, the town hall’s deputy for security Yannick Ohanessian believes that it is “absolutely not possible to see a university close its doors, flee a neighborhood” due to the proximity of trafficking.
A meeting, organized by the police chief of Bouches-du-Rhône, was to take place Wednesday afternoon in the presence of the president of Aix-Marseille University and the town hall.
In Marseille, more than forty people have been killed this year in turf wars between traffickers, with the prosecutor calling it a “bloodbath”.