Le Figaro Marseille
It was a police intervention that could have ended very badly. On Monday, several police officers from Marseille's North Anti-Crime Brigade (BAC Nord) were violently attacked by individuals involved in drug trafficking in the city of La Castellane.
The incident occurred around 13 p.m. in this housing estate in the 15th arrondissement of Marseille, which is plagued by a vast drug trafficking operation and where BAC agents had already been attacked by several threatening individuals last November. According to police sources, the police were patrolling the outskirts of the city's social centre when they came face to face with two traffickers.
«
The officers tried to arrest these two people when they were violently attacked by a group of individuals," a police source said. Two police officers were beaten by these "virulent" individuals, one of whom even unleashed a dog on the officers. The animal, an American Staffordshire terrier, bit two of the officers, injuring them slightly.
CRS 81 deployed to secure the neighborhood
Caught on all sides, the BAC agents were forced to use several tear gas and de-encirclement grenades. The situation eventually returned to calm and two individuals were arrested and taken into custody by the police. Several police officers were injured in the attack. At the request of the prefect of police, the CRS 81 was deployed in the area to secure the neighborhood, as confirmed to Le Figaro by the Bouches-du-Rhône police prefecture.
At the beginning of November 2023, other BAC North agents were targeted by projectiles after checking a dealer who was in La Castellane. One of the policemen had even been forced to shoot twice in the air to scare away individuals who had tried to have the arrested man released. Two officers sustained minor injuries in the assault, one being shot in the back and the other in the face.