• Raped woman, injured policeman, shooting... Several acts of violence that have occurred in recent days have reignited the debate on insecurity in Nantes.

  • While a demonstration is being held this Saturday to denounce the situation, the mayor of Nantes is asking for new reinforcements from the State.

The scene is as surprising as it is spectacular for these two women who are quietly walking their dogs along the Loire.

In front of the large towers of the Malakoff district, in Nantes, a long row of police vans has just parked, from which dozens and dozens of men, armed and helmeted, descend one after the other.

This Thursday evening, it is in this sensitive area that the CRS 8 deployed.

This mobile force of a hundred police officers, specializing in urban violence, has been crisscrossing the city since Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin decided to send it urgently to Nantes on Tuesday evening.

A few hours earlier, a police officer had been seriously injured by a scooter when he refused to comply.

Has insecurity gotten out of control in France's sixth city?

The question, which many media and news channels have taken up continuously, arises and divides.

For some of the merchants and night professionals, some of whom will gather on Saturday afternoon at Place Royale to "express their fed up", the answer is yes.

“Since the start of the school year, things have accelerated further, deplores Guillaume, the co-president of the S2N association, which organizes this event.

Every day, we are told of an attack: passers-by stabbed, a bartender held up with a gun!

Since the time that we denounce them, we have to wait today for Madam Mayor to wake up.

»

An opinion that does not share Teddy Robert, the president of the association of traders Plein center.

“Without being in denial of insecurity, talking about it does much more harm to trade than insecurity itself, judges the one who will not participate in Saturday's rally.

But we have been working on the subject alongside the town hall for a long time.

And even if it does not bear fruit yet, we will continue to work, while working on the animation of the city center.

»

The Nantes opposition on the offensive

While the prefecture of Loire-Atlantique indicates that the facts of general delinquency have dropped by almost 10% compared to 2019, the exceptional black series that the City of the Dukes has just experienced has something to question.

In addition to the injured policeman, a 40-year-old resident was raped by two men last weekend as she crossed the Esplanade des Machines de l'île in the early morning.

On Wednesday, a teenager was the target of several shots, fired in broad daylight in the Dervallières district.

And the next day, a body showing a trace of a bullet in the forehead was found, partly burned, in a park in Saint-Herblain… Among the inhabitants, the questions are the same.

Distorting mirror or alarming degradation of security?

According to the profiles, opinions differ.

The Nantes opposition, it does not go there by four paths.

"It is the logical consequence of several years of laissez-faire and cowardice on the left", condemns in a tribune the municipal councilor Les Républicains Guillaume Richard, while Bruno Retailleau designated Nantes as "the symbol of the failure of the public security policies.

Strong criticism described as "instrumentalization" by the mayor (PS) Johanna Rolland, who claims to have made security one of her priorities (with in particular the doubling of the municipal police, the installation of 200 cameras, etc.) but who is now asking for even more resources from the State to fight against problem number 1 according to her: "the scourge of drug trafficking".



Friday, surrounded by several representatives of traders and the economic world to show that they "are united", the city councilor unveiled the measures that she will demand from Gérald Darmanin during a meeting on Tuesday: "We are asking for a force permanent mobile of 80 national police officers dedicated to the fight against delinquency, as well as a continuous police presence from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the hyper city center (Feydeau-Bouffay-Commerce), details the mayor.

We will not let the assets of our beautiful city be damaged by this question, however legitimate it may be.

For the S2N association, the city must go even further.

“We need more lighting, more cameras, and a municipal police present 24/24, believe its members.

It is urgent for calm to return.

»

Justice

Nantes: Two suspects imprisoned after the gang rape near the Machines

Miscellaneous facts

Nantes: The young man found charred in a park was 18 years old

  • Company

  • Nantes

  • Pays de la Loire

  • Delinquency

  • Security