Since the start of the week, violent clashes have been taking place in the Moulins district of Nice, an expression of a struggle for territory in the context of drug trafficking and growing insecurity.
“Here, it’s not the wild west,” insisted the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes Hugues Moutouh during his visit to the Nice district of Moulins this Tuesday, March 26. That day, a brawl broke out in broad daylight, less than 24 hours after other clashes where shots were fired.
A recurring daily life for the inhabitants of the district who regularly sound the alarm in the face of growing insecurity in this sensitive district of the Riviera city, classified as a district of republican reconquest.
• An area of violence since the beginning of the week
Since the start of the week, the Moulins district has been the scene of violent clashes. Shots were fired Monday during a brawl between rival gangs. At least one person was injured in the head by a baseball bat.
An investigation was opened for attempted intentional homicide, aggravated violence and criminal conspiracy, without any arrests having yet taken place, the prosecution said.
The next day, around forty people, some of whom were hooded, met at Place des Amaryllis, in the heart of Les Moulins, to compete. Four unaccompanied minors were injured, one seriously. A police officer who came to help disperse the crowd was also hit in the leg by a projectile.
Here again, an investigation was opened for participation in a group preparing violence or aggravated damage and violence. One person was taken into custody, said the prosecution.
Finally, this Wednesday morning, around twenty hooded people gathered again near Allée Sœur-Emmanuelle. Although the crowd dispersed when the police arrived, 13 people were still arrested, including ten minors, and they were all placed in police custody.
In total, 22 people have been arrested since Tuesday, most of whom are “in an irregular situation”, notes the prefect on BFMTV.
• A “hodgepodge” of various tensions
This climate of “strong tensions” has its origins in several intertwined sources of conflict, according to the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes, guest of RMC then of BFMTV this Wednesday. The latter confirmed that the genesis of the punitive expeditions was a “hodgepodge”, against a backdrop of drug trafficking.
“At the origin of these clashes, there is first of all a territorial conflict for the control of drug trafficking between young people from the Moulins district and foreigners in an irregular situation, most of whom are unaccompanied minors,” explains -he.
“And then, in recent days, according to public rumor, there has been harassment of women by unaccompanied minors,” added Hugues Moutouh.
• Recurring tensions for several years
Furthermore, this violence in this neighborhood has been occurring for months or even years. Shots are regularly heard in the city, and clashes with knives are increasing.
These tensions regularly flare up on sensitive deal points. On August 6, 2022, a 20-year-old young man was shot and killed near Place des Amaryllis. Three people were indicted for organized gang murder in February 2024 in connection with this case.
The investigations suggest a settling of scores on a point of deal disputed between several teams. The latter was dismantled in November 2023, the month when the CRS 8 was also deployed in the district.
Gérald Darmanin also visited the neighborhood in December 2023. A few hours earlier, a man had been seriously injured with a knife at Place des Amaryllis. Three days earlier, four people had been arrested for shootings in Les Moulins.
The Minister of the Interior had, at the time, put forward his Immigration bill based on the situation in Moulins, where the majority of those arrested are in an irregular situation.
• Several actions to stem traffic
The prefect of Alpes-Maritimes, who makes the fight against insecurity one of his priorities, and the national police carry out regular operations to stem tensions. Of the 54 deal points identified in the department in December 2023, twelve are located in the Moulins district.
The prefect assures him: police officers are constantly present in the Moulins district to try to maintain order. Concerning recurring violence, notably brawls, Hugues Moutouh was firm this Tuesday:
“We will continue to hurt them, and we will continue our war of attrition. They will tire before us.”
The Raid has already, in the past, been deployed in Les Moulins and this week, it is the turn of the CRS 81, dedicated to urban violence, to be mobilized on the scene. As for Nice town hall, Anthony Borré recalls that since May, “17 private security agents, financed by landlords and by the city” have been on the ground.
Hugues Moutouh assures that he is waging “war on dealers” and that the presence of law enforcement “destabilizes trafficking”. In one year, 400 operations, including “clean places”, took place in the neighborhood. At BFM Nice Côte d’Azur this Tuesday, the prefect also highlighted the seizure of more than 30 kilos of drugs in one year in Les Moulins.
• An expulsion policy assumed by the prefect
Over the last 12 months, 955 people have been arrested in connection with drug trafficking, 72% of whom are illegal foreigners according to the prefect. This is why the prefecture also targets people in an irregular situation present in the neighborhood and assumes, therefore, “an expulsion policy”.
“The instructions I give are clear: we go there, we arrest and we expel. Expulsion is an essential weapon.”
However, minors in an irregular situation, who are also part of the majority of arrests in recent days in Moulins, cannot be expelled according to international convention.
• A political war for a return to order
If the violence seems to have escalated in Les Moulins, politicians continue to pass the buck and ask for more resources from both sides.
Thus, if Anthony Borré thanked Gérald Darmanin for having accepted the deployment of CRS 81, this Wednesday he calls on the minister to “put in place an unprecedented plan”. He also said he was in favor of a temporary intervention by the army, more particularly the “Sentinel force”, to restore order to Les Moulins.
MP Éric Ciotti considers that the means put in place by Gérald Darmanin are “bullshit” and points the finger at communication operations. “We have been hearing about exceptional resources for years,” he recalled on BFM Nice Côte d’Azur this Wednesday, March 27, referring to the arrival of Jean Castex in Nice four years ago.
An observation shared by certain residents, who explained to BFMTV that they see the same pattern constantly repeating itself, where a large number of members of the police arrive at once before leaving. “In two months, no one cares but we continue to live with it,” laments a resident.
“We run CRS companies like Monopoly,” wrote Éric Ciotti on his X account. The elected official wants simultaneous action around drug traffickers and consumers. He calls for an increase in tariff fines for the latter and harsher criminal sanctions for dealers.
“What we need to do is let the investigations take place, with the magistrates and the judicial police, track down the networks and above all expel the illegal immigrants who are at the heart of the clashes,” he insisted on BFM Nice Côte d ‘Azur this Wednesday evening, demanding that the State “take its responsibilities”.
In this sense, the president of the Republicans also brushes aside Anthony Borré’s wish to bring in the army. “The army has no skills in matters of judicial police, this reflects a form of incompetence of the first deputy who is in charge of security,” he says.
2024-03-27 21:12:45
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