Since the beginning of 2020, the weapons have spoken twelve times in Nîmes (Gard), including seven times with assault rifles.
Gusts fired most often in the sensitive areas of the city, the ZUP, to the west, and the sensitive areas of Chemin bas and Mas de Mingue, to the south.
The reason?
Conflicts between rival teams against a background of drug trafficking, or internal struggles within the clans.
These paramilitary-type operations killed two people, a young trafficker, in June, and a 42-year-old man, collateral victim of an operation carried out on the outskirts of the city, in July, as well as a dozen wounded.
"We must differentiate what is the logic of territories, other logic linked to private disputes" explains Jean-Philippe Fougereau, the head of the regional service of the judicial police of Montpellier (Hérault) who also has jurisdiction in the capital gardoise.
“The territories do not necessarily change hands but there are splits within the teams,” continues the commissioner general.
The heads of networks go to prison, go on the run during investigations in foreign countries, move away from their business and, suddenly, the lieutenants have desires for emancipation, and this creates conflicts.
"
Faced with this upsurge in violence, local elected officials are demanding additional police resources.
"This poses a problem of public safety," explains Julien Plantier, the first deputy who promises a densification of the video surveillance network.
The elected representative calls for a "strong judicial response and the deployment of additional resources".
Jean-Paul Fournier, the mayor (LR) of Nîmes, has been calling for months for additional staff to pin down and discourage trafficking networks.
The mayor calls for an anti-drug trafficking plan
As such, the prefecture and elected officials are actively working on the installation of a police station in the Pissevin district, the epicenter of the shootings.
The shopping arcade is an identified point of the use of heavy weapons, sometimes released with the sole aim of intimidating the competition which is very strong on this point of very lucrative deal in the heart of a city of 12,000 inhabitants.
“The shooting in January marked the spirits for several weeks, says a trader.
It was eight o'clock, a peak hour, it was a scene of war.
The images have turned a lot on social networks.
Since then, the fear seems to have dissipated.
This dilapidated urban complex is set to be destroyed and then rebuilt a few kilometers away.
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“We are not helpless, there is no catastrophism, nor fatalism, says Jean-Philippe Fougereau.
The aim of the judicial police is to put the most virulent caïds in prison by means of investigation and criminal intelligence.
We did it in Avignon in 2018, in Perpignan at the start of the year.
It takes time and resources.
We need to understand what is happening to propose investigative strategies to the judicial authorities.
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On September 23, Jean-Paul Fournier, the mayor of Nîmes, will lead a delegation, Place Beauvau, to demand from the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, an anti-drug trafficking plan so that sensitive neighborhoods finally find normal nights.