Wilfried Devilliers / Credits: ANTONI LALLICAN / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 6:16 a.m., February 12, 2024

In the cities of Île-de-France but also of Oise, young adolescents, even children sometimes under the age of 13, keep watch. In the town of Clos-des-Roses in Compiègne, a 12-year-old boy was taken into police custody last month, a first for the police. A daily reality for the residents of the neighborhood.

At the foot of a building washed out by the rain, a young boy on alert scans the street. A lively look and childish features peek through his hood. A scene that has become usual for the deputy mayor of Compiègne, responsible for city policy. "We have children of eight, nine years old. They transport small quantities of hash over short distances. Afterwards, they go out of their way, so these young people, who are cannon fodder, warn from the start "arrival of the police", explains Oumar Ba.

Little hands watched from afar by traffickers who do not hesitate to put pressure on neighborhood families. "There is a mother who told me that they are coming to pick up her son, they are knocking on the door to say: 'Where is your child? Is he there? All he has to do is come to work'" . There are also very young lookouts who do not come from Clos-des-Roses according to a leader from the social center located in the heart of the neighborhood. “They sometimes come from Marseille, from the Paris suburbs. I think that the traffickers will look for them when they leave the homes, because they take young people without ties, without family,” he says.  

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“The living conditions are execrable”

Isolated and left to their own devices, these children sleep and eat as best they can. “The living conditions are execrable,” explains Oumar Ba, the deputy mayor of Compiègne. “There are some who sleep in abandoned cars in the neighborhood. And then there are some apartments where you can find 5, 6, 7 young people.” 

The residents of the city see them every day outside their homes, but they say nothing. Firstly out of fear of reprisals, but they are also busy protecting their own children whom they do not want to see fall into trafficking. Last year in Compiègne, 41% of police custody related to drugs concerned minors.