Operation square net: “We will see”, in Roubaix, the inhabitants remain unmoved by the system

Maximilien Carlier (correspondent in Roubaix) // Photo credit: Denis CHARLET / AFP 08:11, March 26, 2024, modified at 08:14, March 26, 2024

After Marseille, it is the turn of Dijon, Paris, Lyon and Lille to clear out drug trafficking. These XXL anti-drug operations desired by the executive should make it possible to fight against dealers. In Roubaix, in the Lille metropolis, this demonstration of force leaves the inhabitants unmoved. In one of the streets of the Pile district, a painting repeats itself. On one side of the street, police and CRS vans are parked, while opposite, around ten young people wait and hold the walls. 

For Hugo, a resident of the neighborhood, this new operation is just another communication stunt. “I feel completely abandoned. I don’t see what the solutions are,” he explains to Europe 1 before adding. "The drug dealers are clearly established. They are in 0 impunity mode. They control the street and do what they want when they want. I had to change my trash cans for example because they took them from me all the time. The police even told me to be quiet, to go slowly with them, because it could put me in danger,” he despairs. 

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“We only want to leave”

“So, my daily life now is to ignore the traffickers,” he emphasizes. We avoid going past the deal points, explains Céline, right next door. "It's a big area where there are always people, cars passing until 4 a.m.... It's all the time. We've been in the neighborhood for five years and we haven't had "I want to leave. We hope things will change, we'll see," she says. 

“But we don’t really believe in it,” breathes this resident, “who no longer dares to leave her house in the evening for fear of disturbing the dealers.