In Marseille, Emmanuel Macron defends his security policy

Special envoy to Marseilles.

They are six, seated around the President of the Republic who has come to meet them at Campanules, in the northern districts of Marseille. All have in common to have lost a son or a nephew, in one of these numerous shootings which bloody the city.

"I'm stuffed. I am in front of you but I no longer exist. I died inside, ”says Anita (the first name has been changed), who wears the first name of her boy around her neck. He was 21 when he was shot in the Old Port five years ago.

This Monday, the stories of these women remind the Head of State that Marseille must always struggle with fierce insecurity. "It's not possible to die at 14, you should have your life ahead of you," says Rayanne's aunt, shot dead in August 2021 in France's second city.

Almost two years after the announcement of the "Marseille en grand" plan and its rain of billions of euros (15, including 5 brought by the State) to get the city out of the mess, Emmanuel Macron is confronted with the stubborn realities of Marseille. For the first day of his trip, which will continue until Wednesday, the Head of State emphasizes the sovereign.

“The situation remains very difficult,” he admits at midday, after visiting the judicial police and stopping off at the indescribable Baumettes prison, where a new 740-seat building is in the process of being built. “All the commitments made two years ago have been kept. It’s historic”, insists the Head of State in front of the uniformed officials of the various bodies who are active on the front line to make life difficult for drug trafficking.

Some 300 police officers, 11 investigators for the judicial police, 3 stationed CRS companies, 22 magistrates, 10 prosecutors... Emmanuel Macron believes he has done his part, promises to "accelerate", proposes that verbalized cannabis users can from September pay their fine to the police to improve collection.

The president advances a first assessment: 40% of the deal points dismantled (70 out of the 222 recorded in the Bouches-du-Rhône). "We can't see the difference," replies Anita when she meets the head of state at the end of the afternoon around a tray of oriental pastries. “The coming months are going to be tough. We must be clear. We are not going to shut down the networks overnight. On the other hand, we are not going to let go of the matter, ”notes the head of state. “Me too,” he retorts, when a woman presents herself as a “warrior” against drug dealers.

But Emmanuel Macron is above all keen to turn to local elected officials in the name of “collective responsibility”. “Sorry to say it in fairly direct terms, but we cannot deplore the children who are killed in the neighborhoods and glorify the recreational consumption of narcotics,” he said before joining the northern neighborhoods. Components of the Printemps Marseillais, the alliance of left-wing parties that run the city, are in favor of the legalization of cannabis.

Environmentalists are also reluctant to deploy surveillance cameras. "Now all the stakeholders must consider that commenting, procrastinating, is not a way of meeting the needs of the people of Marseilles", warned the president in an interview with La Provence before being received forty minutes at the Town Hall by Mayor Benoît Payan.

But it is indeed his relatives that Emmanuel Macron intends to put forward. Like the deputy Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, who made sure that the course of the head of state contrasts with the previous hexagonal trips punctuated with casseroles. "Marseille welcomes you in Grand", can we read on signs in a group of activists. A large banner in the colors of Marseille was installed at the bottom of the Campanules towers: “Welcome Mr. President!”

But on the way to the Busserine gymnasium - where 300 Marseillais are waiting for a debate - most of the inhabitants only see him from their windows. Police officers guard the entrances to the buildings. Some "Macron resignation" are heard. Change of atmosphere further during a walkabout where children's cries, encouragement, the suggestion of a man who imagines Emmanuel Macron running for mayor of Marseille, the astonishment and annoyance of a woman who is surprised to have never seen her neighborhood so well cleaned and “go OM” everywhere… So goes the tumultuous Marseille on a day of a presidential visit.