meet the young people who clash between rival gangs

Two teenagers died in Essonne, during clashes in Saint-Chéron and Boussy-Saint-Antoine early last week. Faced with this phenomenon of brawls between rival gangs, the Ministers of the Interior, Justice and Education meet on Monday March 1 with prefects, prosecutors and rectors of Île-de-France.

Being part of a gang means first of all belonging to a piece of territory, explains C., a teenager from Evry in Essonne. “In a gang, there is no leader. We started hanging out together since we were very young. There was football, after we returned to college, it is done by itself, explains this 17-year-old boy, with big arms, baby cheeks and laughing eyes. C., which gets its nickname from the expression “put someone on the ground”, is part of the “sector B” strip of the Pyramides district. He hangs out particularly with the “04”, those who were born in 2004. The other members of the gang, “It’s my friends, my brothers. Their mother is my mother. If something happens to them, I have to do something for them” “, adds C., whose father is absent.

This “thing”, it could be an exchange of glances, a story of girls, a mocking message that goes on repeat on Snapchat or Instagram. Social networks play an essential role in this context of rivalry. Before the fight, to “warm up” and make an appointment, during, to film yourself in action and after, to establish a reputation.

“It’s also about the lack of respect, adds C. On social networks, if there is one who spoke to us badly, who is hot, we will go and cool him down. Network muddles start with provocations. The other one, he’s going to throw a spade, we’re going to ‘steaker’ him, we’re going to ‘smoke’ him, we’re going to ‘smoke’ his team in his neighborhood. “

We’re going to run him. We are going to film it and we are going to post it to show that we are the strongest. This is how we become enemies and wage war on each other.

“Afterwards, we don’t post, would like to clarify C. Pyramid, you’re never going to see us post, because we’re not ‘provers’. People think we are very mean. But it’s word of mouth. ”

This violence is not about to stop, according to the young people met in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, on the slab of Beaugrenelle. It was there that young Yuriy was beaten up, in repression of another violent assault on a teenager from Vanves. According to a boy who introduces himself as one of his friends, “lots of little ones are being ‘matrixed’ by the street.” This reference to the film Matrix means that many adolescents, including “sons of the bourgeoisie who have grown up well”, are caught up in the rivalry between gangs.

“Everyone wants to think of themselves as a gangster, to show that they have the biggest pair. The scale of violence will go up”, according to him. “Today you punch me with a stick, tomorrow I’ll stab you. Tomorrow you stab at me, the day after tomorrow I’ll shoot you.”, he sums up.

The prospect of dying does not stop C. “What do you want me to tell you, if tomorrow I get stabbed?”he laughed, showing one of his gashed fingers. “If tomorrow I die in there, it was written. The old ones, it was the same thing”, assures C. “After, here, we are neglected. There is nothing, no activity. Either we play football, or we will fight”, explains the young man, who left the school system. “It’s not going to stop, it’s human nature”, he professes.

“You can get away with it anyway!”, replied Mama Sy, an educator specializing in Seine-Saint-Denis and former elected representative of Essonne. “It lacks the frame, she judges. Responsibility is collective in this story, everyone has failed. Public authorities, families. I am 34 years old, I have always known the rivalries between neighborhoods. “ According to her, there are not enough adults, parents, educators for these ultra-connected children, but ultimately alone behind their screens.

These social networks are scrutinized by the five investigators of the special monitoring unit of the 2010 gang plan. They are looking for the warning signs of tension. How many clashes could have been avoided in 2020? Difficult to say, for the police commissioner and head of the territorial security of Paris, Julien Herbault. “It is in essence impossible to measure the number of clashes that have been avoided. We avoid a lot, we know, he explains. We manage to defuse tensions, based on the weak signals shared between these different partners who are mobilized in the fight against these gang phenomena. But it’s hard to measure events that don’t happen. “ In 2020, 357 clashes between rival groups were recorded across France. An increase of 23% compared to 2019.