A faculty which closes its doors and imposes distance learning due to the drug trafficking that is rampant nearby. This is the fate reserved for the 1,500 students and 170 teachers of the Faculty of Economics and Management, located since 1991 on the Colbert site, in the city center of Marseille. 20 minutes takes stock of this decision which set fire to the powder in the Old Port.
What is happening at Aix-Marseille University?
In a letter addressed this Wednesday to the public prosecutor of Marseille, the mayor of the city and the prefect and police chief of Bouches-du-Rhône, the president of Aix-Marseille University Eric Berton announced, this Tuesday, that “the dean of the faculty of economics and management of the Colbert site in Marseille took the decision to close access to this building to students and staff, because he could not ensure their safety”. This announced closure is planned for this Friday evening. Students would take classes remotely for at least a week.
The reason ? The drug trafficking that is rampant nearby, particularly in the square in front of the faculty which houses the « Halle Puget “. “This problem is far from being new and no lasting solution has ever been found,” regrets the CGT Ferc Sup of the University of Aix-Marseille in a press release. Unfortunately, we still remember the brawls, the attacks on staff within the university itself or the throwing of projectiles at the building. »
What are the characteristics of this deal point?
“I have been warning for several months about what is happening at the “Puget hall”, reports 20 minutes the sector mayor Sophie Camard. The situation was objectively very serious at the beginning of June and July. The neighborhood was in the grip of an intensification of drug dealing, with users of harder and harder drugs, and a fear of seeing addicts walking around in zombie mode. » Cocaine, cannabis, but also medicines would be resold near the university.
“The situation in the Puget hall is characterized by rather diffuse deals, which are not necessarily as materialized as in other districts of Marseille,” specifies Yannis Bouzar, sub-prefect and deputy director of the Bouches police prefect. -du-Rhône. However, according to the latter, the police identified a deal point in a building hall in the immediate vicinity of the faculty, with the use of an apartment within this building by the traffickers which serves as a fallback base. On the square, arrows and even a tag on a metal barrier which materialize the deal point have also been drawn. And the situation became tense during the summer, when traffickers tried to set up a “drive”. “But this traffic was nipped in the bud,” says the sub-prefect.
“We are recovering from the destabilization of the northern districts,” Sophie Camard believes. Harder traffickers arrive in the center who have been weakened elsewhere with the strategy of shelling. Basically, it’s the northern neighborhoods that have arrived and are making things go up. » An analysis not shared by the police chief of Bouches-du-Rhône, Frédérique Camilleri: “the deal goes to the consumer and I believe that everyone is aware of the fact that, in the city center of Marseille, there is there are drug users. »
Why did the faculty make this decision now?
According to Eric Decreuse, dean of the faculty of economics and management, this decision comes in light of the scale of drug trafficking near the university. If Yannis Bouzar recognizes an increase in “nuisance” and a climate of “nervousness”, the sub-prefect does not agree, and instead explains the situation as the consequence of the “harassment work” of the police. on this point of deal. According to him, 29 drug traffickers were arrested in one month near the university.
Without there seeming to have been a trigger, this decision by the faculty sounds above all like an act of pressure from the university in the face of a latent situation. “We arrive at a radical decision when the feeling of discontent rises and things are not changing quickly enough,” explains Eric Decreuse. This decision to close the faculty has caused some irritation in the Old Port. “I have a feeling of disconnect,” confides Sophie Camard. The police had been taking into account the situation for several weeks. Sowing panic is of no use. I find it a bit rushed and politically exploited. You know, there are university elections at the beginning of November…”
What did the police decide?
At the end of a crisis meeting this Wednesday, Frédérique Camilleri proposed “putting police officers on a fixed, static point, to be able to reassure staff and students who must be able to come, study and work with complete peace of mind”. The police chief also committed to “continue to strengthen the police presence and dismantle all the dealing points and consumption points which take place around this district”. She also wishes “to be able to work on a better exchange of information with Aix-Marseille University so that each point of tension is immediately reported to the right level. »
What does the faculty think?
Welcoming “great progress on this issue”, Eric Berton was confident at the end of the crisis meeting: “I will warn them and I am convinced that with these developments, colleagues will be able to evolve in their thinking very quickly. And I don’t worry much. I am convinced that things will go well and that students will be able to return to face-to-face classes very quickly. »
Is this an isolated case?
Another public service a few meters from the Colbert site has also been closed for the same reasons since Monday: the Carmes crèche. In a press release published this Wednesday, the territorial FSU 13 reports “numerous scenes of violence, trafficking, prostitution” around the establishment. “Since the door to the garage, reserved for municipal staff, was broken, it has been taken over by several individuals (dealers, drug addicts, homeless people, etc.) and is squatted day and night. » So much so that, “in view of the situation, the city of Marseille had no other choice to close the crèche”. According to Marsactu, eight daycare workers are on sick leave. The town hall notably provides for the daily presence of a security agent. This nursery should reopen this Monday.