The Capuchin market in Bordeaux. – Clément Carpentier / 20 Minutes
- A shopkeeper from the Capucins district launched a petition addressed to the town hall to alert on the growing tensions in the sector, after the assault of an employee.
- The municipality is deploying more educators and mediators in the field.
- Urban redevelopment is also planned to make the public space more user-friendly and offer cultural activities.
Anne-Elizabeth still has her voice that trembles as she speaks about it. On April 3, one of his employees was assaulted in front of his restaurant La Broche de l’Ostal, near the Capucins market, in the center of Bordeaux. “She was threatened with rape, pursued with a broken bottle and fled to the police station to seek help,” she recalls. The assailant retraced his steps to steal bottles of wine from the restaurant, before attempting to physically assault the restaurant employee again later in the day.
If she appreciates the popular atmosphere of the neighborhood and had passed the sponge on small material damage to her establishment (broken windows, damaged shutters, etc.), Anne-Elizabeth believes that by wanting to physically attack her employees, a white line has been crossed. She launched a petition addressed to the mayor of Bordeaux who has already collected more than 2,000 signatures. She asks for the possibility of “living serenely in the neighborhood”, reporting “aggressive remarks, obscene gestures, bullying, verbal and even physical violence on a daily basis”.
An audience on the street, left to its own devices
“I understand that some are on their own except that our attackers, whom we know, are three quarters of the time completely drunk and drugged, there is really a feeling of insecurity which is growing in this district, points out the manager. of the Brooch of Ostal. We are losing customers and the Capuchin market too. “
She regrets all the more the turn that the situation has taken for about a year, which corresponds to the start of the Covid-19 epidemic, as she maintained good relations with the people on the street who live in the neighborhood. “We tried to help them several times, either by giving them food, by treating them, by lending our toilets, by giving them cigarettes”, she recalls. She lodged a complaint for violence and must be received by the neighborhood mayor on Thursday.
He is well aware of the situation. “For me it is an effect of the Covid, the street is theirs and they take their ease,” comments Olivier Cazaux. There is a traditional begging audience and also passing people addicted to hard drugs ”. “There are not many more homeless people in this sector, but their presence is more regular and permanent and their consumption [de stupéfiants] have worsened thanks to confinements, ”adds Amine Smihi, deputy mayor in charge of public tranquility and security.
Prevention and occupation of public space
Already alerted by the situation in rue Elie-Gintrac, near the Capucins sector, where crowds have been reported, the town hall has mobilized, in conjunction with associations, educators and mediators. The marauding associations are also particularly attentive to these sectors. In some cases, the national police, responsible for narcotics, opened investigations.
The town hall has planned at the end of May a redevelopment of the public space, removing parking. “We want to install more customers instead of cars”, summarizes Olivier Cazaux. In connection with the Chahuts association, the municipality also wants to occupy the public space with cultural activities, also offered from May.