Pauline * will remember it all her life. It was 5.30 a.m. the night of August 13-14 when she and her companion woke up with screams. “It was a mess in the middle of the crossroads, there were at least 10 young people yelling. I saw one with a metal baton chasing another. My boyfriend saw guys just below our window hiding behind the trash containers. And there another came up to them, pulled out a gun and started aiming at those who were hiding. We heard bangs, but not a very loud noise so I wasn’t sure it was really gunshots. And everyone left as if nothing had happened, ”she says.
It is finally the next morning, when they wake up, that they realize that it was indeed a firearm. “We saw lots of red spots on the wall of the building, at first I thought it was paint but my doctor friends confirmed to me that it was blood. And above all there were three casings on the ground, ”she continues. Three weeks later, the bloodstains are still there, along with a cartridge case.
Eight grocery stores concerned
Pauline and her companion live in the district of La Plaine, in the center of Marseille, a few meters from a food supply covered by a municipal decree, ordering it to close at 9 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, until October 31. next. “The municipal team made the decision to restrict the opening hours of night grocery stores, which is the source of many nuisances. The concerned grocery stores will be forced to close from 9 pm to 7 am Thursday to Sunday from September 1 to October 31, 2021 inclusive, ”announces the municipality. There are eight concerned grocery stores, located in the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th arrondissements.
“Oh no it’s not the first time we’ve woken up like this in the middle of the night because of the noise.” Especially in the summer. The last time I don’t know how many were kicking a guy on a scooter that they had knocked down, ”says Pauline.
Sale of alcohol prohibited from 10 p.m.
Fortunately, the episode of August 13 remains the culmination of a series of nuisances. “Anarchic parking, noise pollution, consumption of illicit products such as nitrous oxide, but also other narcotics, sale of alcohol after 10 pm, repeated nuisances. All these elements have led to several passages of the police forces, checks, but also several complaints, and several reports, which for some date. Mainly I wonder about the relevance of staying open at night when the sale of alcohol is in any case prohibited from 10 pm, I am not sure that the sale of a few cookies is profitable ”, list Yannick Ohanessian, deputy in charge of security.
Except that since the implementation of this measure, Pauline and her companion have seen no change and if some grocery stores have the curtain drawn from 9 p.m., others have only half.
* The first name has been changed