In March, the Ministry of the Interior launched the “XXL square net” operation in the Castellane district of Marseille.
The smugglers are trying to retake this area and do not hesitate to use violence against the police.
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WEEKENDS 8 p.m.
Under the avalanche of kicks and projectiles, it was impossible to fight back. During the arrest of a human trafficker on Wednesday, a group of people attacked two police officers, one of whom was seriously injured in the face. Cité de la Castellane in Marseille, as in the entire department since March, police “square” operations have curbed drug trafficking. 856 were arrested and 480 kilos of hashish were seized.
Since then, clashes have increased and traffickers have tried to regain ground. “The police are still there so as not to lose this country, this country that we have regained and unfortunately what happened is happening and as we could see in this video“, says Rudy Manna, spokesman for the Alliance Police National union, in the report from TF1’s at 20:00, which is visible at the top of the article.
“Young people are now ready to do anything to make money”
A daily police presence to prevent seven dismantled points of agreement from re-establishing themselves in this city. Loss of earnings for the dealers, several hundreds of thousands of euros a day, enough to exacerbate tensions. “What happens in La Castellane is that it is a very poor neighborhood and unfortunately the traffic delivers some people. The market share has been reduced considerably and the young people are now ready to do anything to make money“, says Mohamed Benmeddour, educator and mediator in Marseille.
A renewed tension which pushes the police to be extremely vigilant. “Today, we must hold our ground, not show the slightest sign of relaxation to these criminals who are either trying to return there, or to go to other places, to other cities, even to other cities in the department or, for example, e.g. to make deliveries“, explains Pierre-Edouard Colliex, Bouches-du-Rhône police prefect.
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