what are the “clearance” operations, the pace of which Emmanuel Macron wants to double?

It is one of the government’s policy tools to guarantee “order”, Emmanuel Macron’s mantra hammered out during his press conference at the Elysée, Tuesday January 16. The Head of State announced a strengthening of “clearance” operations carried out against drug trafficking. “We are going to increase the pace starting next week. Ten operations of this type will be conducted every week”he detailed during his introductory remarks.

This system was launched at the national level in the last quarter of 2023, under the leadership of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. The first “square net” operation was carried out in Poitiers (Vienna), the week of November 7. “The goal is to secure neighborhoods and fight against drug trafficking”summarized with The New Republic Jean-Marie Girier, prefect of the department and campaign director of Emmanuel Macron in 2017. Other operations of this type were carried out in the following weeks in districts of Evry-Courcouronnes (Essonne), Montbéliard (Doubs), Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), Montargis (Loiret) or even Argenteuil (Val-d’Oise).

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During these operations, the police carry out “controls of common areas and cellars”of the “identity checks at the request of the public prosecutor”with the “mobilization of dogs specialized in the search for narcotics and weapons”details the national police website. “The ‘clear space’ operations are necessarily accompanied by visible and large-scale actions on public roads. They are carried out as a priority in difficult areas of large cities and programmed by the territorial services.”

Several regional media, such as The New Republic or France Bleu Belfort-Montbéliard, however, underlined the “poor record” of some of these operations. On the other hand, the police welcomed, during certain operations, seizures of narcotics, arrests and fines issued, like the Loiret prefecture in December.