"It has become unlivable": in Paris, the Goutte-d'Or cracks in the face of insecurity

The white message, on a red background, has appeared on the storefronts of shops in the popular district of Goutte-d'Or (18th arrondissement) for a few days: “Stop insecurity”.

Cafés, restaurants, food shops… Rues de la Goutte-d'Or, de Stephenson, de Jessaint, they display this message in the form of a call for help, in what has become, for a little over four years, the triangle of violence, with the fixation of dozens of young unaccompanied foreign minors, mostly Moroccans.

Burglaries and bloody brawls

Poly-drug addicts, refusing any support, they multiply burglaries, settling of scores and bloody brawls.

The last of them, on August 21, ended on the quai de la Seine (19th district), on the terrace of an Italian restaurant, where one of the young people, pursued by about twenty others, was literally lynched.

He was hospitalized in serious condition, victim of a head trauma.

“The police never stop intervening,” recognizes a server at Mistral Gagnant, rue Stephenson, one of the first to display the Stop insecurity sign.

"But the kids know it: they are minors and get out of custody to start over!"

In a few weeks we have been broken into twice.

They force the iron curtain and sweep up the fund.

"

“Individuals suffer the same situation,” he adds.

I can no longer count the testimonies of local residents victims of burglaries ... People are leaving the neighborhood.

It has become unlivable.

"

"People are scared"

Just opposite, the owner of the café-brasserie La Môme, does not say the opposite.

With this observation shared by the district: “The summer was particularly hard in Goutte-d'Or.

The brawls multiplied, we even had to call the police twice.

People are afraid, unfortunately, they are much more verbose on social media than in public debate.

It would take real actions, to make things happen.

"

Rue Stephenson (18th), this Monday.

This “anger panel” has been displayed for several days in many windows in the neighborhood.

LP / CB  

On the thorny subject of unaccompanied foreign minors, everyone clings to the hope that a center is opened in Morocco so that they are taken care of, as mentioned in recent days between the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron , and King Mohammed VI, according to LREM deputy Florian Bachelier in an interview with the Brest Telegram.

"My fear is that there is no solution"

Because, here, many things have been tried ... In vain: mediation, accommodation proposals, call for Moroccan police officers.

"My fear is that there is no solution," sighs a grocer in the rue de Jessaint, who has also put the Stop sign on the window of his convenience store, Inter Plus.

And the man knows the subject by heart: his shop faces the Alain-Bashung square where foreign minors “lived” for months before being dislodged.

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“Since then, they have taken possession of every free space, the construction huts, even the drums of the laundromat machines.

We no longer count thefts and assaults.

"

Like him, the two butchers, the fruit and vegetable merchant, the restaurants on rue de Jessaint and rue de la Goutte-d'Or, displayed the sign of anger.

"Without counting those who do not dare to put it, for fear of reprisals", advances a trader, also cautious, and entrenched behind anonymity.

"And then, they are all the time under the influence of drugs," adds the server of Mistral Gagnant.

They snort glue which they put in plastic pockets.

It's endless ... Yesterday, they burglarized all the cellars in the street.

"

"A long term job"

"The situation is serious", recognizes Nicolas Nordman, the assistant to the security of the mayor PS of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, who went there last week, to meet the collective of the traders and the inhabitants of Goutte -Golden.

“The fight against trafficking, violence and the dismantling of networks is of course a subject for the police, and we have requested additional staff.

But the City also has its role to play, by reinforcing the presence of agents, by improving public lighting, too.

Because a dark street is conducive to delinquency.

But, it is obviously a long-term job, to be carried out with the countries of origin, the prosecution, the police… ”, concludes the elected official.

Square Bashung, March 2017: minors on their own