In Boussy-Saint-Antoine, a 14-year-old teenager was stabbed during a fight -
Thomas COEX / AFP
Several brawls between young people have taken place in recent weeks in Paris and its region.
Dramas which have thrown a spotlight on the phenomenon of gangs.
The number of clashes increased by 25% between 2019 and 2020.
Faced with this worrying situation, a plan to fight gangs must in particular be adopted by May 1.
The assault, in mid-January, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, of Yuriy, a 15-year-old teenager, cast a spotlight on the rivalries between gangs.
Since then, several violent fights between young people have taken place in Paris and in its region.
The last date goes back to Monday evening.
Two groups from two districts of Champigny-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne) clashed in the street with knives and punches.
Two teenagers, 14 and 16, were seriously injured and one was in a coma on Tuesday night.
Two weeks earlier, in Essonne, two 14-year-old teenagers had been killed in less than twenty-four hours.
The number of clashes between gangs continues to increase.
The Interior Ministry identified 357 in 2020, against 288 the previous year, an increase of 25% in one year.
Faced with this upsurge, the government has decreed a general mobilization.
In particular, a plan to combat gangs must be adopted by 1 May.
In particular, it should make it possible to better detect and monitor gang members, thanks to structures such as GLTDs (local groups for the treatment of delinquency).
The plan will also provide for increased security around schools, mediation, or the implementation of actions aimed at raising awareness among the youngest.
A meeting on Friday in Matignon
To keep gang members away, the Department of Justice relies on the use of “appearances” and the implementation of community service for young people as an alternative to prosecution.
"We can not accept the trivialization of violence," said government spokesman Gabriel Attal after the Council of Ministers on Wednesday.
Faced with "this phenomenon", which "is intensifying in some respects", "we must therefore adapt and strengthen our response with 360-degree action", he added.
He insisted on the need for a “coordinated response” between ministries and between services in the field.
"The challenge is also to have a faster and more effective criminal response for minors", who are "sometimes 11, 12, 13 years old," added Gabriel Attal.
For his part, the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, is organizing a working meeting in Matignon on Friday with several ministers, during which the subject of gangs will be discussed.
"But we should not wait for specific announcements at the end of this meeting on this specific subject,"
his entourage
told
20 Minutes
.
Ways to "try to avoid terrible tragedies"
In a column published on the Franceinfo site on Wednesday, some 110 education and social professionals, juvenile justice actors or representatives of the associative world believe that the brawls between gangs "question more widely the existence, the 'insufficiency or even absence of resources for public education and child protection services, specialized prevention and mediation ”.
Recalling that the phenomenon of bands "has always existed", the signatories offer several avenues to "try to avoid terrible tragedies".
Among them, “the establishment of non-violence education” for children and adults, the “strengthening of child prevention and protection services”, increased support for associations and families, and the creation of additional posts of mediators.
They also consider it essential to develop "a policy of care for certain young people in great psychological suffering", in particular via "the establishment of child psychiatry services" intended to "detect and prevent difficulties as early as possible, if need in connection with schools and associations ”.
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