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"I had never seen that": in Stalingrad, mortar fire against crack users

2021-05-03T19:11:27.661Z


During two consecutive nights in Paris, mortar fire was heard on avenue de Flandre. Local residents exasperated? Angry drug addicts? Reg


Finally a night without wondering if a mortar fire will end up crashing into his window, and injuring his family.

Sandrine woke up this Monday morning somewhat calmed, after a weekend of terror, during which the Stalingrad district in Paris was transformed, in the evening, into a mini-battlefield.

“In the night from Friday to Saturday, around midnight, we heard explosions.

We thought of a car fire, remembers the one who has lived in avenue de Flandre since 2018. Except that we looked out the window, and we saw mortar fire coming in all directions.

Maybe ten.

They were targeting a group of crack users.

"

I dream!

After yesterday's mortar fire I thought @prefpolice would do whatever it takes to secure the #Stalingrad #crackparis area but they literally don't care!

So tonight midnight REBELOTE!

So mortars OK here?

Lost territory of the republic?

@GDarmanin!

pic.twitter.com/V1PAkbAYIQ

- In the heart of hell in #Stalingrad (@infernal_stalin) May 1, 2021

For many months now, this district of the 19th arrondissement of Paris has been confronted with the presence of drug addicts who spoil the daily lives of residents, between howls and scuffles.

“Installed before Place Stalingrad, they arrived at Avenue de Flandre at the end of January.

I count 200 every night, ”says Snejana, a resident of the building from which the shots were fired, who is annoyed by the inaction of the authorities.

"A shot hit our window"

The first night, the police would not have gone there, unlike the next time.

“Saturday, at 11:50 pm, new shots rang out, resumes Sandrine.

They were of more concern to us because they were targeting consumers located on our side of the avenue.

We live on the 7th floor and yet a shot hit our window.

“Called, the police would have remained about forty minutes on the spot, according to several testimonies.

Mortar fire again tonight in #Stalingrad by residents to scare dozens of toxins away.

Children woken up in tears, again this evening.

The situation is extremely serious.

A frightened district and left alone, in the heart of Paris.

#AnneHidalgo #Darmanin # paris19 pic.twitter.com/Gblbb5O8zC

- Joy (@UnNuance) May 1, 2021

Responsibility for these shots remains uncertain.

For Snejana, “they are drug addicts or drug dealers who attacked others.

I saw them from my window, even though I didn't look too long, I was so scared.

"

However, she is the only one to defend this version.

“On the videos I shot, we see two men, three at a time, fire and then enter their residence.

They are clearly local residents, ”continues Sandrine.

A tenant of the place abounds: “They would live well here.

I've lived there for twenty-eight years, I've never seen that.

In return, consumers threw bicycle saddles at them.

"

The safety device maintained

"This is what we fear, clashes between drug dealers, consumers and residents," adds Sandrine.

To avoid it, the security system will be maintained, indicates the police headquarters.

François Dagnaud, the mayor (PS) of the 19th century, does not know more about the identity of the shooters.

"An investigation is underway, entrusted to the district police station," adds the police headquarters.

“Either way, this is unacceptable.

But this indicates a rise in tension in this neighborhood, which we understand.

Local residents have been complaining about the nuisance for weeks.

They come to freak out.

And we cannot rule out the idea that we are only reaching an upper threshold of their anger, not a peak, ”fears François Dagnaud.

Gatherings of drug addicts, a problem that has become national

The elected representative expects a stronger response from the authorities than those provided so far. “These gatherings of drug addicts are no longer a Parisian problem. It is a national one, even a European one. People come from all over France, even beyond our borders, to find crack. It is not the police station of the XIXth district which will be able to regulate it, insists that one feels annoyed by the prefecture of police force. The mayor also claims to have written to the Minister of the Interior and that of Health, without obtaining a response in return.

The “rapid” abolition of this gathering place should also, he warns, “avoid reproducing the mistakes of the past.

At the same time, it will be necessary to set up medico-social measures to support these consumers ”, in order to get them out of their addiction.

Because "the dismantling of the crack hill last year, north of Paris, only shifted the problem to us," regrets Stéphanie

(the first name has been changed),

another resident of Stalingrad.

For whom the measures of the crack plan of the City of Paris are ineffective.

To read also Crack in Paris: "We let the problem become encysted in the working-class districts"

"They are shaken by the importance assumed by the phenomenon", answers François Dagnaud.

"But they work", assures Emmanuel Grégoire (PS).

According to him, “there are fewer open-air consumption places in Paris than in the past”.

Anne Hidalgo's first deputy, however, recognizes “an obvious security problem in Stalingrad.

This subject deserves a double answer: medico-social, with the support of consumers;

and security, hence the deployment of the police.

We have planned a boost to the crack plan, with new measures that we will present in the coming weeks.

We will no longer accept the sedentarization of consumers in the public space.

"

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2021-05-03

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