If the prefects welcome it, residents, police and associations are more doubtful about these heavy-handed operations praised by the executive. Because the results are rather mixed.
Drug dealers are stationed every 200 m along the tram line which connects Lyon, and its very upscale 6th arrondissement, to Tonkin, a district of 20,000 inhabitants in Villeurbanne. With their faces hidden, they scroll on their cell phones, stomp around while smoking a joint. In the afternoon and evening, there are up to six or seven of them on the big deal points. “There are around ten points of sale throughout the district. The most lucrative make around 50 transactions per hour”, slips Cédric Van Styvendael, the socialist mayor of Villeurbanne. From 10 a.m. to midnight, customers follow one another, more or less discreetly.
However, a “punching” descent took place very recently in Tonkin. On November 27 and for ten days, it mobilized no less than 400 police officers and allowed 50 people to be arrested and 31,000 euros to be seized. in cash, more than 5 kg of cannabis and 68 g of cocaine. These spectacular operations, called “net squares”, are the government’s new tool to fight against trafficking. Since the last quarter of 2023, they have been occurring at a sustained pace. Poitiers, Montbéliard, Argenteuil, Montargis, Béziers, Bordeaux, Marseille… During his major press conference on January 16, Emmanuel Macron announced his intention to lead “ten operations of this type every week”. But for what effectiveness? In Villeurbanne, as elsewhere, the results appear mixed to say the least.
“We are maintaining the pressure on the public authorities”
In Tonkin, this district “very socially mixed”underlines Cédric Van Styvendael, the traffic has started “about ten years ago”. Until 2020, residents made do as much as possible. But a shooting broke out in June that year, leaving five people injured. A collective called Tonkin Paisible was then created to try to take actions aimed at regaining some calm. Nicole and Jean-Luc, a couple of young retirees, are among the most active members. “We maintain constant pressure on the public authorities, so that the neighborhood does not become a lawless zone”, explains Jean-Luc. At their request, numerous cameras were installed, directly overlooking the deal points. “We are also calling for the vegetation to be trimmed in places, so that traffickers do not hide their goods in the bushes”explains Nicole.
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The collective, which has around thirty active members, organizes itself via WhatsApp and Telegram groups to spread the word when a new point of sale sets up somewhere: they do not hesitate to call out the dealer and the ordered to leave, despite the threatening remarks to which they are often subjected.
“We were told one day that we were going to be shot at with a kalach. But it’s a bluff, we know that very well.”
Nicole, member of the peaceful Tonkin collectiveat franceinfo
At first, the sale of narcotics was mainly focused on cannabis. But in recent years, the merchandise has diversified. “What goes away the most is cocaine. Then, weed [la résine de cannabis]. And not far behind, ketamine [un anesthésique notamment utilisé pour soigner les dépressions]“, details a dealer who has just reached the age of majority with whom Franceinfo was able to communicate. “And then there’s crack and heroin.”he adds, a little embarrassed, recognizing that certain customers who come to obtain “are in very poor condition”. The emergence of these two substances is of particular concern to local residents. “Users consume directly on site, sometimes in broad daylight, very close to schools. And we regularly find syringes in the park”Jean-Luc annoys.
“All points have reopened”
The authorities did not wait for the “clearance” operation to act. “Several waves of arrests” have already taken place and in March 2023 “a very big operation” was organized, mobilizing 100 officials and making it possible to arrest 15 people linked to trafficking, “ten of whom were imprisoned”, welcomes a Villeurbanne “narcotics” police officer, who participated in “place net”. The means deployed as part of this operation, at the end of November, made it possible to dismantle the deal point “the most profitable in the city, or even in the city”, says Juliette Bossart Trignat, the delegated prefect for defense and security in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. However, on January 25, two months after the start of the operation, the deal point, located near the Nigritelle Noire elementary school, is active again. “All points have reopened”, confirms the police officer interviewed by franceinfo. He estimates that “the occupation of the land allowed by this operation was interesting, but over a time frame that was far too short.”
“To really squeeze out the traffickers, we would have to maintain a police presence at the deal points permanently for four or five months. But that is obviously impossible.”
A Villeurbanne “drug” police officerat franceinfo
The mayor of Villeurbanne, Cédric Van Styvendael, ensures that residents “saw the efforts and appreciated the raid: it was the first time they had seen so many police officers. But no one is naive. ‘Clean Square’ is not a magic wand”.
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The operation, however, had the merit of “catching guys who were in high-level trafficking: the adults are in preventive detention while awaiting their trial, and we can be happy about that”, assures the police officer. But part of the problem, according to him, lies in the penal treatment of the small hands involved in trafficking, the “smut dealers”, often minors, who are in contact with customers at the deal points. “If they don’t say much during their hearings and their phone doesn’t speak, they will be summoned to court in 2025. And they will immediately go back to selling”, observes the policeman. “Those who could possibly be incarcerated are the managers of deal points,” he continues. But manager or small hands, all are very easily replaceable anyway. “In a few hours, it’s done”assures the official, not to mention that “many managers continue to control part of the traffic from the prison, via mobile phones”.
“We are sweeping an area in all directions”
In the opinion of the prefects, “clear space” has enabled a major breakthrough: bringing together services that were not used to working together. “The objective is to work on the ecosystem of delinquency with transversal means”comments Philippe Court, prefect of Val-d’Oise.
“Until now, there was less sharing of information, we did not connect all the stakeholders who could be mobilized.”
Philippe Court, prefect of Val-d’Oiseat franceinfo
“With ‘clear square’, we combine the initial legal action with all state services, such as Urssaf for social fraud, public finances to control tax offenses or labor regulations… We sweeps an area in all directions for three or four days to look for any violations”describes the prefect, noting that the nine “clearance” operations carried out in his department between September 26 and January 24 made it possible to refer 40 people, for around a hundred arrests in total. “A very nice ratio”he maintains.
“The little bosses continue their business”
Same observation from François-Xavier Lauch, the prefect of Hérault, after the “place net” operation organized at the end of November in the Saint-Martin district, in Montpellier. “The attack phase lasted a full week and since then, we have been in the deterrence phase, with more resources than usual allocated to the neighborhood. The objective being that the deal points do not return and that the residents continue to see ‘blue’ downstairs from their house”he describes to franceinfo.
Located a fifteen-minute walk from the city center of Montpellier, the Saint-Martin district has seen traffic develop within it since “four or five years”, according to Karim*, who has lived there for thirty years, and says he is relieved by the operation. “We saw dozens of CRS trucks checking, attacking sellers and also buyers.” He admits, however, that “Some of the drug dealers are still there, and it’s impossible to get them to leave, especially the minors.”
An observation shared by Nora*, another resident of Saint-Martin. She knows the parents of some of the minors who engage in trafficking, who are often completely overwhelmed. “There are three who have been locked up but the little bosses continue their business”, she worries. For this fifty-year-old, the police presence is not enough. “We need more educators: we have three covering four districts of Montpellier, it’s just not possible, there is no follow-up”she regrets.
“All repressive measures will lead nowhere”
In Poitiers (Vienna), where a “clear place” operation took place at the beginning of November, in the Beaulieu district, on one of the oldest deal points in the city, the findings are not much more encouraging. “We are almost back to the situation before the operation: traffic is back in place, with a slightly different organization, but no less active”bluntly notes Pascal Meynard, departmental secretary of the Alliance union in Vienne.
Patrick Motton, advisor for the local mission of Poitiers, knows the district in question well: his office is located in the heart of the deal point, making him a “direct observer” successive police operations. The “clear square” intervention which took place on November 7, 2023 proved particularly disappointing: around thirty police officers were mobilized, according to The New Republicbut only 2 g of cocaine and 3.4 g of cannabis were seized, according to the regional newspaper. In total, 95 people and 43 vehicles were checked without any arrests taking place.
“The neighborhood is completely gangrenous, the residents have deserted, little by little. The housing is empty. People no longer even dare to come to the local shops, near the Place de la Grande Goule, where the drug dealers are camped.”
Patrick Motton, advisor to the local mission of Poitiersat franceinfo
As a social worker, he regularly tries to get some minors out of trafficking. “But it’s extremely complicated, we have to negotiate with the leaders, so that they authorize them to leave the deal points, even if only for an hour. And then, these are young people who are themselves addicted, who need quick money to buy their own consumption”he analyzes. “Trafficking is a vicious circle and, for me, the all-repressive strategy will never lead anywhere. We need resources for social workers, real proposals for integration, without that, we will never get out of it not.” When requested, the Ministry of the Interior announced that Gérald Darmanin would communicate an initial assessment of these operations soon.