Clotilde Dumay, edited by Solène Leroux 11:54 a.m., August 18, 2022
In an attempt to solve the crack problem, 3,200 people were checked in early August.
But the inhabitants do not yet see the difference.
For a year, crack consumers have settled on the border between the 19th arrondissement of Paris, Aubervilliers and Pantin, and it's a real hell for the residents.
REPORTAGE
Gérald Darmanin has given the green light to Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez to solve the crack problem in the north of the capital.
3,200 people were checked in early August, resulting in 113 arrests.
But the inhabitants do not yet see the difference.
For a year, crack consumers have settled on the border between the 19th arrondissement of Paris, Aubervilliers and Pantin, and it's a real hell for the residents.
When Redouane walks with his son, he systematically avoids passing near Square Forceval under the ring road.
"There are attacks. Frankly, it's unbearable," he laments at the microphone of Europe 1.
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200 drug addicts on site
Between the lines of cars and the waste abandoned on the sidewalk, Stéphanie Benoist distinguishes makeshift shelters.
About 200 drug addicts sleep here, according to the spokeswoman for the Villette Village residents' association.
"We get spat on, we get slapped. I witnessed rapes in the camp like that, in the open," she says.
According to the prefecture, 200 police officers are now engaged in the field on a daily basis.
"We see that there is an action to raise traffickers. It's a good thing," she says.
"Afterwards, when there are attacks on local residents or traders, do they have the ability to act? We don't know," continues Stéphanie Benoit.
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Crack in Paris: the problem, far from being resolved, is poisoning the lives of local residents
A "medical, health and social" problem
For now, traders are resigned.
"No, they're not going to do anything at all, the police aren't going to do anything at all."
Chahinez sells medical equipment 300 meters from the camp.
She sees her clientele deserted when these drug addicts wander, staring blankly, in the street.
Eradicate this scourge in one year?
The spokesperson for the association does not really believe it.
"There, the prefect of police, he is asked to act. But afterwards, the consumers will remain there in the district. It is not the responsibility of the police. There, it is a medical, health and social responsibility" , she insists.
In a press release published on Tuesday, the mayor of Pantin, Bertrand Kern, calls again to settle the phenomenon as a whole.