freed from drug trafficking, the inhabitants of La Paternelle in Marseille come back to life

It is a city which has long been one of the biggest hubs for drug trafficking in Marseille. After two years of daily police action, she is now free from drug dealers.

Between the small colorful buildings from the 1980s in the Cité de la Paternelle, the four ultra-profitable deal points, close to the highways in the northern districts of Marseille, have disappeared. The violence has also stopped in this city, the epicenter of a bloody war between two clans, responsible for the majority of the score-settling last year in Marseille.

“Here, there were four deal points which made 50 000 euros per day eachexplains Frédérique Camilleri, the police chief of Bouches-du-Rhône, visiting the neighborhood on Monday January 15 evening. Today, there are no more deals and there is zero euro turnover for the traffickers.” she congratulates herself. For two years the police came here every day. As a result, the entrance which served as a drive-thru for drug buyers was condemned and 80 people were taken into custody to put an end to the city’s clan war. “When some people object to the fact that we are emptying the sea with a teaspoon, I tell them: ‘Come to the Fatherland and ask the inhabitants if it is worth it or not’says the prefect.

“There is no more murder, no more lookouts”

“We breathe!”, rejoices this man who has lived in his father’s house for fifty years. “I thought there was nothing to do and the miracle happened!”

“We went through an ordeal for years. If we spoke out, there were reprisals.”

A resident of La Paternal

at franceinfo

We couldn’t take the children out, insists this resident. Aya, 11 years old, agrees: “Before, there were watchers and I couldn’t get out,” says the teenager. “Now it’s better. There are no more murders, no more watchers, no more nothing”. On the walls, the holes left by Kalashnikov bullets have been filled in, the tags displaying drug prices have been repainted. A pétanque court has appeared, a local office of the social landlord has reopened and the accommodation which had remained vacant for a long time is now all full.