2024-03-21 14:00:01
Emmanuel Macron during a visit to security and the fight against drug trafficking in the Castellane district of Marseille, March 19, 2024. CHRISTOPHE ENA / AP
One hundred and nineteen arrests, 87 police custody, the seizure of 22.5 kilos of cannabis, 938 grams of cocaine, 402,745 euros, 13 vehicles, 4 weapons… This time, the results were not enough to defuse the criticism after the spectacular “Place Net XXL” operation which mobilized nearly 1,000 police officers in Marseille on Monday March 18 and Tuesday March 19. On site, Emmanuel Macron, flanked by his ministers of the interior and justice, welcomed the success of the operation. But if the entire political class underlines the need to fight against the influence of drug trafficking in France, the method does not seem to attract more unanimous support than the communication organized around the event.
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“In reality it’s S, operation small”, joked about France inter Marine Le Pen, boss of the National Rally group at the National Assembly, Wednesday March 20. For the “rebellious” deputy from the North Ugo Bernalicis“this agitation is nothing other than a snub to the judicial authority, which is responsible for pursuing criminal action, with a lamentable communication aspect”.
For months, the executive has been hammering out a vigorous argument from which the health consequences are often evacuated – France is the second largest European consumer of cannabis and has 600,000 cocaine users – and the social dimensions of trafficking. “That’s the problem, mocks Mr. Bernalicis, is that public services made a clear presence in these neighborhoods well before the police. »
Pessimism lucid
In Marseille, the presence of the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, alongside MM. Macron and Darmanin appeared above all as a call to order for local magistrates, whose lucid pessimism had burst forth during a hearing by the senatorial commission of inquiry into drug trafficking on March 6. “I fear we are losing the war against traffickers,” estimated Isabelle Couderc, vice-president of the organized crime unit of the specialized interregional jurisdiction of Marseille. “For my part, I cannot give in to any speech of defeat”cropped the President of the Republic from the Castellane district.
According to the daily Provence, Gérald Darmanin had however ordered a large-scale operation during his visit to Marseille in January, putting forward the objective of reaching the symbolic figure of one hundred arrests. A message all the better received as the new police prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône is none other than Pierre-Edouard Colliex, coming directly from the minister’s office where he served as police advisor until February. “The only answer [au trafic]it is a concrete response, of questions and results”, estimated the latter on BFM-TV the day after the “Place Net XXL” in Marseille.
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