A journalist of M6 was hit "standing and on the ground" Tuesday in Nimes, in a impoverished neighborhood where the town hall has decided to close until further notice a municipal media library because of the aggravation of violence related to drug trafficking.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin "strongly condemned the attack" on the journalist and gave him his support. "A company of CRS will be sent as reinforcements in the coming hours to guarantee public peace," he added. For its part, the M6 group "strongly condemns his attack, gives its full support to Jérôme Régali and renews its attachment to the freedom to inform," the television channel also responded in a statement.
A "scandalous attack on the freedom to inform"
Just arrived in Pissevin, a district called "republican reconquest" with many towers and blocks of buildings, the journalist image reporter (JRI) based in Montpellier was attacked by two men, who fled, according to a police source. Taken to the hospital for examinations, "he suffers from many blows and multiple bruises," said the Occitanie Press Club, denouncing a "scandalous attack on the freedom to inform".
The mayor of Nimes, Jean-Paul Fournier, had announced Monday to have taken the "terrible decision" to close until further notice the Marc Bernard media library, one of the last public services of Pissevin, district with many blocks of buildings and towers. "Since last December, dealers have been exerting increasing pressure on the neighborhood with the establishment of barricades/checkpoints to control their illicit trade. Thus, for several months, the 18 agents of the cultural center are victims of threats and verbal aggression in full view of all, "said Jean-Paul Fournier in a statement.
"Palpations in the street"
«
Today, they are even subjected to checks and pat-downs in the street before accessing their workstations. A new level has been crossed since the traffickers have entered the building, going so far as to film and photograph the staff, and accessing the roof to monitor the surroundings and warn of the arrival of the police forces, "also offended the mayor, demanding "the assignment almost permanently of a Mobile Force Unit" in Pissevin.
The prosecutor of Nîmes, Cécile Gensac, announced that she had opened a "preliminary investigation" into the facts concerning the media library and an "investigation of flagrance" for those of which the journalist of M6 was a victim. "Any sign of a decline in public services marks a failure, even temporary, of the joint action of all actors. This is a matter of daily concern and priority for justice, "added Cécile Gensac. She stressed that, over the past year, "138 judgments concerning 66 perpetrators have been rendered" in the field of narcotics in Nîmes, "an increase of 253.7% in decisions of criminal convictions".
Dealers displaced
The prefect of Gard, Marie-Françoise Lecaillon, for her part, announced an "intensification" of the presence of the national police, in connection with the municipal police and in coordination with the prosecutor, with "an increase in power in the perspective of the upcoming reopening of the media library". According to the prefect, this violence "occurs in a context of territorial war" and "develops in reaction to police operations and the start of ambitious urban renewal works" in the neighborhood.
These works, endowed with millions of euros and having for "objective to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants", have for "first effect of destabilizing the traffic of dealers in their areas of establishment, with a transfer to other places including the surroundings of the municipal media library," she said. Pissevin, like the Chemin Bas and Mas de Mingue districts, were created in the 1960s to house populations from the rural exodus, returnees from North Africa and immigrant workers. All three share alarming socio-economic indicators with a poverty rate of up to 70% and massive unemployment.
