Clashes between drug addicts and overwhelmed residents near Bataille-de-Stalingrad Square prompted the authorities to open the Jardin d'Éole to crack users for part of the night.
An improvised decision, which made the life of the residents of the park a real hell.
France 24 followed their daily life over a full day to report on the situation.
1
p.m .
: "If it comes to this, I commit suicide"
Crack pipe in hand, Joaquim gazes around the Jardin d'Éole from a raised walkway. South side, children's games and a space with weight machines. North side, silhouettes wandering in the middle of thickets and vegetation, luxuriant in this scorching June. This 42,000 m² park located in the north-east of Paris has become the kingdom of open-air crack cocaine since the decision of the French authorities to extend opening hours in order to concentrate drug addicts chased at the end of May from the Place de la. Battle of Stalingrad, located a few hundred meters away.
Under overwhelming heat, Joaquim lights his pipe and takes a deep breath. Eyes closed, her eyelids twitch as this powerful cocaine-derived drug floods her brain. "The problem with crack is that right after a dose, you want to take it straight away. Cocaine, you can't snort all day, otherwise you have a burst nose," explains the worker. 53 years old, who speaks knowingly. Joaquim discovered crack through drug addicts he met during a drug addiction treatment for cocaine users.
Joaquim smokes a crack pipe on the footbridge of the Jardin d'Éole.
The worker says that working allows him to control his addiction: "I don't think I'm addicted because I never smoke when I work. But it's true that it was harder during confinement because I didn't worked only two days a week ".
© Mehdi Chebil
Since then, he consumes regularly, 2 to 3 times a week.
Joaquim is one of those integrated "crackers" who revolve around the Jardin d'Éole.
He lives in the western suburbs of Paris, with his wife and daughter, and regularly works as a renovator in the building.
"I just have to approach the park and I am immediately called out: 'Hey, how are you? Come here the Portuguese!'
It's easy to buy my dose ".
But the sight of the many drug addicts in the street, who spend their days and nights chasing their dose near the Jardin d'Éole, reminds him that each puff brings him closer to the precipice.
A drug addict woman in the northern part of the Jardin d'Éole, where crack users are gathered.
© Mehdi Chebil
"If one day the crack does this to me, I stop everything or I commit suicide. Really! If I see that I go into a spin like them, I go crazy", launches Joaquim.
"In fact, it would suit me if they closed the park to drug addicts, it would make me less temptation."
6.30
p.m .
: "Give us back our park
!"
About a hundred residents of the Jardin d'Éole met in front of the park gates.
Older women with floral-print dresses rub shoulders with families who have come with children and strollers.
Patrick, who lives just above the garden, throws the protest slogans over the megaphone: "No to crackland, it must stop! Give us back our park, give us back our neighborhood!".
Walk the talk, the little troop enter the northern half of the Jardin d'Éole - the part that was annexed by crack addicts.
Residents of the Jardin d'Éole demonstrate on June 16, 2021. They walk along the fence of the northern part of the park, which is occupied by drug addicts.
© Mehdi Chebil
Supervised by eight security officers from the City of Paris, the demonstrators walk along the fence.
They pass between a man in underwear washing himself, a stout woman in rags and dazed young people, lighters in hand.
Crack addiction has been a long-standing problem in north-eastern Paris, but the decision to extend the opening of the Jardin d'Éole for drug addicts until 1 a.m. has increased the problems for residents of the area. Park.
"It has happened that my son could not go to school because the hall of the building was squatted by drug addicts. It's getting hotter and hotter but with these people downstairs we are really afraid to go out," said Djeneba, a 31-year-old mother who came with her children.
Djeneba, a resident of the Jardin d'Éole, came with a saucepan to sound the alarm.
© Mehdi Chebil
After a symbolic crossing of the northern half of the park, residents find themselves outside.
A cathartic moment to discuss the latest attacks and the Paris mayor's promises to improve the situation by the end of June.
"Even if they wanted to, they couldn't get drug addicts out of the park. They won't send the army anyway," said one of the residents.
"It's not a herd. If they take care of it, they must do it with dignity," replied another.
The demonstration by residents passes by benches occupied by crack users (on the right in the photo) © Mehdi Chebil
8 pm: "One day it will end badly"
From its balcony on the 10th floor, Ryko has an exceptional panorama of tourist Paris with the Eiffel Tower on its left and the Sacré-Coeur just in front.
Perfect for admiring the sunsets over Montmartre.
But if he looks down, the 50-year-old DJ has a bird's eye view of drug addicts who shoot or defecate in the Jardin d'Éole.
The Aeolus Garden seen from Ryko's balcony.
The part to the right of the image - the north side - is the part occupied by drug addicts later in the day.
© Mehdi Chebil
Like the rest of the neighborhood, Ryko has several chilling stories of altercations with crack users.
His wife and children were recently taken to task by a drug addict urinating in the park.
"When my wife asked him to be careful, telling him that there were children in the park, the guy turned to them. He showed them his b ... and started to insult him. and yelling 'I'm going to put it in the ch ... and in the c ...!' ". Dodging aggressive begging or having to ride your bikes at home every night for fear of theft is one thing. Fear for his family is the red line for the inhabitants of the neighborhood. This kind of gratuitous and irrational aggression can make some residents want to take justice into their own hands. "One day it will end badly" slips Ryko.
In the meantime, the drug business continues as if nothing has happened.
In several corners of the park, we see drug addicts parading in front of men who give them small white pancakes.
"It's one of the dealers' favorite spots," Ryko explains, pointing to a spot in front of his balcony.
"From here, we can see them giving crack and counting coins."
A crack user (second from right) hands a 20 euro bill to a dealer to buy his dose.
© Mehdi Chebil
10 p.m .: "The European Crack Sanctuary"
Aeolus, deity of the wind in Greek mythology, had his residence on the volcanic island of Stromboli, according to Homer's descriptions. As night descends on the neighborhood, the Aeolus Garden erupted. Seen from a distance - it becomes frankly dangerous for journalists to approach - dozens of small flames light up in the dark as consumers base their doses on their crack pipes.
Eight security guards from the Paris town hall, including two dog handlers, closed most of the Jardin d'Éole.
Addicts are concentrated in a small space the size of two Olympic-size swimming pools in the northeast corner of the park.
The crack "pebbles" change hands and up to 300 consumers frantically bustle about their pipes.
This is even more than last May, when François Dagnaud, mayor of the 19th arrondissement, denounced the "European crack sanctuary" on the Place de la Bataille-de-Stalingrad.
An addict melts his dose of crack on his pipe, before inhaling.
© Mehdi Chebil
Several crack users we met during the day told us that they did not sleep overnight.
This is the case of Djamel, a Kabyle addicted since 2013, who shows us his "pebbles", four small white balls barely bigger than a grain of rice.
The former bartender melts the pebbles on his pipe before inhaling deeply, closing his eyes.
"There, I just whistled 5 euros!" Exclaims Djamel.
The 46-year-old former bartender spends his days and nights on crack with 6 to 8 patties a day.
He is, in his own words, literally consumed by his addiction.
"Look, if you gave me 1,000 euros now, I would put everything in crack and, in a few hours, I would barely have enough to pay for a coffee," he says in a flash of lucidity.
Djamel shows the dose he paid 5 euros - the tiny little "pebbles" in the palm of his hand.
Crack is both one of the cheapest and most addictive drugs on the market.
© Mehdi Chebil
1 a.m.: modoux wizards
"Modoux".
This term pronounced by drug addicts floats on the days and nights of the Garden of Aeolus.
With its exotic sound, it evokes the word "marabout".
An image of witchcraft that fits well with the zombie behavior of the most afflicted drug addicts in the park.
And in a way, the modoux are indeed the wizards of crack.
"Nobody says 'dealers' here, we are talking about modoux," Djamel explained to us a little earlier.
Why ?
"Because they say sweet words to you before you buy your dose ... They make us 'Come on my brother, she's good' ... And five minutes after you've paid, they release you telling you to go fuck your mother, ”decrypts the Kabyle.
According to several drug addicts and a survey by Le Monde, the modoux are mostly Senegalese.
The northeast corner of the Jardin d'Éole where crack users gather after 10 p.m., when security teams shut down most of the park.
This space is closed later, at one in the morning.
© Mehdi Chebil
At 1 a.m., a private security team came to close the last northeast corner of the Jardin d'Éole, which was still open to crackers. Some comat on the spot, in front of the garden gates, while others, fully loaded, disperse in the streets, building halls or garage entrances of the neighborhood.
This is not the end of the ordeal for residents.
Despite the heat, some are forced to sleep with the windows closed to avoid being woken up at 4 a.m. by the screams and loud voices associated with nightly brawls.
It is also the time of petty theft and the most violent assaults.
"My mother was attacked by two drug addicts at 5 am, they tried to snatch her handbag from her," Djeneba told us during the demonstration by residents earlier in the day.
Crack makes some users very aggressive, causing regular fights between drug addicts.
© Mehdi Chebil
8 am
: escort for the cleaners
It is a real small squad which was deployed early in front of the northern entrance to the Jardin d'Éole.
A cleaning machine moves forward, accompanied by cleaning agents from the City of Paris.
Usual scene of Parisian life: with brooms and jets of water, they remove the many rubbish on the public road.
But here, they are escorted by several security agents from the City of Paris.
"It is to protect the cleaners from drug addicts that we are here," says one of the security guards, who does not give his name because he is not authorized to speak to the press.
The agent has a front row seat to witness the arrival of the first drug addicts and dealers.
He is clearly disgusted by what he saw.
"Most of these people, they prostitute their girlfriends to buy crack. As for the drug dealers, they sometimes offer a little crack for free to the migrants. It only takes a dose to get hooked," he says.
A drowsy drug addict in the morning.
© Mehdi Chebil
Inside the park, exhausted consumers lie on the grass in the early morning freshness.
A few joggers venture around the park and associations distribute free breakfasts at the southern entrance in a relaxed atmosphere.
The volcano is temporarily dormant.
10 a.m .: the goat and the drug addict
About a hundred drug addicts have already settled in the northern part of the Jardin d'Éole, but the southern part remains relatively untouched.
We are sitting on the lawn in the shade of a tree when, suddenly, we feel a scratching on the top of the shoulder.
This is not a crack addict begging, but a little goat who decided to climb on us.
Sheep, goats, rabbits ... The Jardin d'Éole educational farm encourages the residents of the neighborhood to come regularly and not to leave the entire park to crack users.
© Mehdi Chebil
"Don't worry, she just wants to try to climb on your back to reach the leaves of the tree", explains a young person from the Educational Farm of the Jardin d'Éole.
Several goats and sheep have scattered around the southern part of the park and are having a great time.
On weekends, families come to take advantage of this mini-pasture in the center of the capital to show the animals to the children.
Sheep, goats, and rabbits will not solve the drug addiction problem in the neighborhood, but they allow park users not to leave the land vacant and to preserve the southern part of the Jardin d'Éole.
However, the shadow of crack never goes away for very long.
"Here we are surrounded by drug addicts," says Khardiata, a local resident who came to enjoy the park with her children on Sunday mornings.
"The problem with crack is that anything that allows them to bail out has to be close to the point of sale. Passes in stairwells, brawls over money, aggressive begging (...) kids see things they should never see, ”explains the 43-year-old hospital executive.
It seems essential to him to continue to occupy the field while waiting for more lasting solutions.
Khardiata with two of her four children enjoying the children's games in the southern part of the Jardin d'Éole.
© Mehdi Chebil
Close the Jardin d'Éole to drug addicts and move the problem elsewhere?
Open consumption rooms and create other points of attachment?
The urgency for the inhabitants of the district is to put an end to the nuisances, but there is no consensus on how to deal with crack addicts.
"Maybe we should direct them to structures outside, like those for the rich, with psychological follow-ups. The kind of centers where Hollywood stars go to detoxify themselves. And even for them, we sees that it doesn't work all the time, ”adds Khardiata.
Because, rich or poor, the problem remains fundamentally the same: ex-drug addicts are often surrounded by addicted people who push them to plunge again.
Or even worse, as Joaquim told us at the beginning of our dive into the world of crack.
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