The schoolbags are done, the children more or less ready, and Julie, the director of the Calanques de Sormiou school group, a school located in the 9th arrondissement of Marseille, has “the ball in the stomach” on this back-to-school day. A healthy lump in the stomach common to all teachers – and their students – who are about to embark on a new school year. But in La Cayolle, there was something more this Monday morning: police crews were patrolling and ensuring the arrival of parents, children and teachers. Representatives of the prefecture, the rectorate, the town hall of the sector were on site. A visibly welcome presence after the four shootings this summer which left two dead and three injured in this usually peaceful Marseille district, including two 14-year-old teenagers.
“The children ask us questions”
“Obviously, these patrols reassure us,” appreciates Mathias* who accompanies his two children aged 4 and 10. A resident of the neighborhood for five years, this parent of students finds that “the situation has deteriorated suddenly”: “before, it was relatively cordial with the dealers even if they were in front of the school. But from mid-August the shootings became regular. We could hear very well, it backfired every two or three days. Children ask us questions. We try to explain but also to protect them. »
La Cayolle, ideally located at the foot of the Calanques, not far from the Prado beaches, has nothing of the ghettos. The buildings, only four stories high, are clean. The playgrounds – football pitch with synthetic turf, basketball court, bowling alley – are in good condition. The deal point is not signposted a hundred meters in advance. Chairs, sofas and braziers have not invaded the sector. In short, we are far from the worst that Marseille can offer, especially in its northern districts.
But on August 22, a 14-year-old child was injured. An electric shock. Psychological support was offered to residents through small posters pasted on the doors. Some began to mobilize as the start of the school year loomed. “The colleagues threatened to make use of their right of withdrawal if there was no security device”, rewinds Charlotte Bourgougnou, FSU-SNUipp delegate for whom “the academy has taken the measure of the problem”. “The police are a first response but cannot be the only one. The colleagues made requests for adjustments, in particular to put up opaque walls, in place of the current grid, ”reports the trade unionist. FSU-SNUipp is also asking that this school be considered a REP. “With a poverty index of 60, she should be, but as she is landlocked in a rich neighborhood, she is not eligible. The Dasen (academic director of the national education services) came on Friday and said that he could grant additional resources and perhaps the splitting of classes, ”adds Charlotte Bourgougnou.
“It’s the evening that it happens especially”
This Monday morning, parents, students and teachers had the right to an update on the measures taken. Either a reinforced police presence at the entrance and exit of the school, but also during recess or the meridian break. A work launched on August 28, the date on which an extraordinary board of directors of the neighborhood interest committee was held. The educational team of the Calanques de Sormiou school group, representatives of the national police and the municipal police, the rectorate as well as elected officials from the sector and the central town hall were around the table.
This Monday morning, the hundred schoolchildren well seated in their new classes, the neighborhood continued its life. A limpid September sun overflowed the massif of the Calanques. Two cats were lounging on the asphalt in front of large stones installed to close the street along the playground to traffic. These same stones at the feet of which a young man died on August 13, according to a local resident. “You wouldn’t believe it, huh, when you see how peaceful the day is. It’s the evening that it happens especially, ”comments Meriem. This neighborhood mediator is also happy to see uniforms: “the police make a difference and I hope it will calm down. »
In La Cayolle, the inhabitants admit to having learned to live with fear. “We always look to the right, to the left,” sighs Fatima, who has come to drop off one of her two children – the first is still in a stroller. “We won’t move, otherwise they (the dealers) will have won,” concludes Mathias. ” The start of the school year ? A normal return to school, loose a neighborhood trader. We’re not going to let ourselves be taken hostage! »