The PS mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo opposes a new organized movement of crack users in the capital, gathered since September in a square on the edge of Seine-Saint-Denis, she replies to the prefect in a letter whose l AFP had a copy.
Read alsoA report pinpoints the anti-crack plan in Paris
“
The City of Paris will not participate in any way in any new operation which would only shift the problem without seeking to resolve it in an effective and lasting way
”, writes the socialist candidate for the presidential election.
This letter sent on Monday January 24 responds to that sent the same day by the prefect of police Didier Lallement in which he affirms that the presence of drug addicts at Porte de La Villette "
cannot be intended to be permanent
" and asks if the City has any proposals to do to find "
land that is not part of the public space and on which these people could be established
".
A new site “clearly removed from any residential area”
“
Located in Paris
”, this new site must “
be clearly removed from any residential area
” and be able to benefit from “
reinforced social and medical support
” to which the prefect asks the City to contribute.
At the end of September, Didier Lallement decided to move drug addicts from the gardens of Eole, where they had been gathered since the spring to relieve the neighboring district of Stalingrad, towards the Porte de La Villette.
“
Drug users need comprehensive, social and health care to which the succession of police operations does not respond in any way
,” Anne Hidalgo replies dryly to the prefect.
In a statement released Tuesday evening, the police headquarters said it had, at the request of the Minister of the Interior, identified a place belonging to the SNCF.
According to the prefecture, the public group has "
given its agreement
" to the State for "
the loan and the provision
" of one of its plots located "
at the intersection of two railway lines and Boulevard Poniatowski
", in the 12th arrondissement of the capital.
Between 2019 and 2022, the City and the State mobilized for their anti-crack plan 25 million euros instead of the nine million initially planned.
This money has mainly made it possible to accommodate 450 drug addicts, without providing a lasting solution to their wandering in the streets of the northeast of the capital.
Read alsoParisians demand “new methods” against crack in Paris
In mid-September, the situation seemed to be unblocked with the letter from Prime Minister Jean Castex announcing government support for the creation of new “
reception and rest
” places in the capital, a solution advocated by Anne Hidalgo.
But, faced with the mobilization of local residents, the town hall announced the abandonment of a project for a reception area located near a school.
No proposals have emerged since.
"
For almost five months, I have not had any information on these alternative solutions that you seem to be promoting
", notes the prefect.
"
The existence of an open crack scene, the continuity of which you assume
", replies Anne Hidalgo, "
causes an incomprehensible rejection on the part of local residents and disqualifies the installation of appropriate treatment and care facilities
”.
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