Crime statistics in the French capital show a continued surge in violent crime, with some areas of the city seeing as much as a 70 per cent rise in violent incidents.
The statistics, which were sent to the various mayors of the districts of the Paris region, show a nine per cent rise in violent attacks for a total of more than 35,000 assaults since the start of this year alone, according to analysis by Le Figaro.
The 4th arrondissement of Paris has seen one of the sharpest rises in violent incidents linked to robberies with 487 offences reported so far this year, up 70 per cent from the previous 285. The 1st arrondissement, which contains the world-famous Louvre museum, saw a rise of 40 per cent.
There is now an average of 650 offences of property damage every single day in the French capital. In the 4th arrondissement, cases have jumped by 31 per cent.
Mayor of the 15th arrondissement Philippe Goujon, a member of the centre-right Republicans, called for a plan to stop the high number of burglaries.
“It is time to adopt a plan against burglaries in Paris, with a real task force and resolute action against these networks of the former Eastern and Balkan countries who scour entire neighbourhoods of our cities, playing with our weak laws,” Mr Goujon said.
While there is a possibility that the weekly Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vest) protests have diverted police away from crimes, several crimes have gone down since the start of the year. Armed robberies have declined by 15.3 per cent, and car theft is down by 7.8 per cent.
The figures follow reports from earlier in the year that showed crimes such as sex attacks on the public transport system had increased by as much as 30 per cent in 2018.
Residents of the heavily migrant-populated 18th arrondissement went as far as to claim they felt abandoned by authorities due to the surge in crime in their area.
Karim Drif, a local business owner in the area, was even forced to close his restaurant due to the rise in violence.
“This restaurant was my life, my story… But I’m worn out. What do I do when knives fly around customers? When they have lunch on the terrace two metres away from drug traffickers?” he said.