Urban violence, drug trafficking and shootings have become so common in a so-called ‘no-go area’ in France that one resident has compared the area to the Ukraine war as it sees an average of one shooting every two days.
The Fontbarlettes district of the city of Valence in southeastern France is one of the many Sensitive Urban Areas (ZUS) across the country, often referred to as “no-go zones” but life in the area has become so unsafe that locals are speaking out.
“Frankly, I’m afraid of everything. I’m afraid to go to the market, I’m afraid to go to the park. I’m afraid to let my children outside. Delinquency has taken over the inhabitants,” a mother living in the area told the broadcaster Franceinfo. According to the report, Valence’s suburbs see a shooting every two days, on average.
“My children sleep with me because they are afraid,” another resident said and added that they often hear automatic gunfire saying, “We are at war. I see stuff about Ukraine and I tell myself it’s the same happening in my neighbourhood,” and added, “It doesn’t even shock kids anymore to see drug trafficking, to find syringes.”
According to Franceinfo, since the start of the year, there have been at least nine different shooting incidents in the neighbourhood, with at least one involving an automatic Kalashnikov-style rifle.
The violence and drug dealing have led to many businesses leaving the area and parents have complained that there is nowhere for their children to go, other than a local aquatic centre that costs 10 euros to enter, which many cannot afford.
Elodie Degiovanni, the Prefect of the Drôme department, who serves as an official under the French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, admitted that insecurity in Fontbarlettes needed to be tackled but stated “our action is long-term.”
When police have attempted to provide order in the area, they have been attacked, with the neighbourhood being entirely cordoned off in late October of last year following violence directed at officers in the area, forcing their vehicles to retreat.
In the last several weeks alone there have been serval criminal incidents involving young children, including the shooting of a 16-year-old last Friday and the arrest last week of two children, who were found with several hundred euros worth of cannabis and heroin.