REPORTAGE
The districts of Nantes are mobilized. After a wave of shootings between rival gangs, five in five days last week, and the death of a young man shot dead in the night from Monday to Tuesday, families and associations from seven neighborhoods in the city had decided to march together Sunday to say "no to the wars of the neighborhoods".
They were several hundred to beat the pavement, especially on the place Neptune, in the city center. "It is with great emotion that I see that all neighborhoods have played the game," said Bouchra Akdim, to the applause of the crowd. "That was the message we wanted to send, a strong message, we walked one behind the other and that's the real neighborhoods of Nantes, this is the image, all neighborhoods together".
"In the face of violence, we will need everyone"
In the crowd, many wore "do not let violence kill hope" t-shirts. At the microphone of Europe 1, Ali Rebouh, elected from the city and from the district of Dervallières, hopes that this message will carry. "In the face of violence, we will need everyone, especially the inhabitants, mothers, parents, children ... It's heart-warming to meet everyone."
Children, mothers and fathers were present in the procession, like Emmanuel, who wanted to be here today. "I feel very concerned about all that, I'm a father, I have three children," he explains. "We do not want Nantes to become Marseille, we want to stay in a city where life is good, a city where we accompany young people".
For all participants, this is the beginning of a mobilization that must last to try to extirpate the violence and stop the shootings.