Drugs, shootings: inhabitants of Tonkin and public authorities united?

Nearly 400 people gathered on Monday evening at Espace Tonkin, in the eponymous district, at the initiative of Villeurbanne town hall.

The idea: a series of questions and answers, with on stage, Mayor Cédric Van Styvendael, his deputy for security Yann Crombecque, the new prefect delegate for the defense and security of the Rhône Juliette Bossart-Trignat, Jérôme Bourne-Branchu, appointed in June academic director of the Rhône National Education Services and Commissioner Antoine Reymond, head of security of the Eastern division.

Also read and see: the show “6 minutes chrono” special Tonkin

The room was packed, as many as the inhabitants of Tonkin, “tired”, “exasperated” et “angry” against the “rotting” of their neighborhood, “slow and steady derivative” of their living environment.

For several weeks, Tonkin has been the scene of shootings against a backdrop of drug trafficking, including crack freshly unloaded in some of the ten to twelve drug dealers in the neighborhood (out of the fifty recorded by the police in the area). of Villeurbanne).

“In many buildings, it’s “Doors open to drugs”. We want guards assisted by security guards, cameras.”
A resident of Tonkin

At the beginning of November, three shootings, including two in broad daylight, broke out near schools, leaving a man in his twenties seriously injured.

Monday, November 27, in the morning, nearly 200 police officers from the Departmental Directorate of Public Security, assisted by a RAID unit, several dog teams and part of the CRS 83, recently installed in Chassieu, participated in a vast anti-drug operation. This intervention by the police followed legal proceedings opened last July, “heads of drug trafficking, criminal conspiracy, and money laundering“.

Fifteen people, suspected “to be the organizers, nannies, deliverers and resellers“from the deal point at 1-3 rue Jacques Brel, had been arrested and placed in police custody. During the suspects’ custody, which can be extended for a maximum period of 96 hours, investigators will try to”determine the degree of involvement and the role of each of the suspected persons“.

Read also: Vast crackdown against drug trafficking in Tonkin

According to the Rhône prefecture, the operation on Monday November 27 was organized at the request of the Ministry of the Interior.

The same evening the public meeting was held in Tonkin. In addition to the “plateau”, fifteen Villeurbanne deputies and elected officials are present, seated in the front row. “I am not taking refuge behind the questioning of the Minister of the Interior, “we have to”introduced Cédric Van Styvendael, who had recently criticized the attitude of Gérald Darmanin. But everyone must take their share of responsibility and I have the feeling that we have taken a good part of ours.”

Like the residents, I am fed up, but I am fully determined to ensure that the Tonkin district stops being a drug hub. Breaking the feeling of impunity requires human resources and the commitment of the entire Republic @GDarmanin @TF1Info pic.twitter.com/hMIXvacNfh

— Cédric VAN STYVENDAEL (@cvansty) November 13, 2023

A slightly awkward introduction, just like that of the prefect in charge of security who ensures a “perennial presence of law enforcement” on the spot, to which a long discordant clamor responds.

“Nothing has changed, everything is worse” informed the mayor, presented in support, a member of the Tonkin Pai(x)sible collective, born after a shooting, linked to drug trafficking, on Sunday June 7, which left four injured, two of them seriously. “We have been warning and repeating for three years that the Nigritelle-Noire nursery school is surrounded by two deal points. It’s a scandal!”. And remember that residents are reduced to dislodging drug dealers themselves, with banners and songs, at their own risk.

The worrying spread of crack

The danger is also the arrival of crack, a particularly addictive derivative of cocaine which most often appears in the form of yellowish “stones”, which, once inhaled, causes powerful effects. And for which the descent and the lack are multiplied, bringing together traffickers and consumers, the latter seeking to re-consume as quickly as possible, most of the time at the places of purchase.

“Crack has been growing for two months, what have you done, Madam Prefect?” asks another. “What about wrecked cars with drugs inside?”, hear you here. A “your actions are a bit vain“flashes to the other side,”the police are in their cars, the dealers are outside.” Everyone gets what they deserve. Including social landlords, some of whom are in the room, prefer not to hold their teeth. “In many buildings, it’s “doors open to drugs”. We want guards assisted by security guards, cameras ! What exactly are you doing?!”

“The halls are invaded by masked young people. You can’t imagine the pressure… At 9 p.m., when I park my car in the parking lot, it makes me feel sick to go home.”
A resident of Tonkin

There are also these testimonies, which are chilling. A woman sobs. It’s not fake. Cinema, western version, is everyday for her. She describes living in constant fear. “The halls are invaded by masked young people. You can’t imagine the pressure… At 9 p.m., when I park my car in the parking lot, it makes me feel sick to go home.”

Or this actress, taken hostage last year in her car by a salesman pretending to be “courser” by two other dealers. Call to the police who, she says, tell her not to worry, “They will not take revenge”. Two weeks later, his car was vandalized. She continues, clearly exhausted, that living in a building from the 70s with “shared ventilation”they “breathes drugs all day long”. She is now sick and cannot itch due to lack of means. “I die in silence?!” she shouts.

Cédric Van Styvendael is very restrained in the face of these testimonies, but remains firm in defending his security policy at mid-term. “If some of the criticism is partly justified, I don’t want people to say that we are lazy”. And to recall that the number of municipal police officers increased from 30 when he arrived, three years ago, to 52 today, and will be increased to 75 by the end of his mandate. Or to mention the doubling of video surveillance cameras, which will be “tripled by 2026”. “The cameras are not used to solve the problem of live dealing, but to deter dealers and to facilitate judicial work.” And a voice rising “They’re all masked anyway.”. Applause, yellow laughter.

“Tonkin is the nicest supermarket in the entire metropolis of Lyon”
jokes and regrets the mayor of Villeurbanne, referring to its easy access by tram and its proximity to students

“Let no one be deceived, continues the mayor of Villeurbanne. No one will suppress drug trafficking in six months – response to a resident who asked the prefect her objective on the subject by next spring. He’s moving, moving away, it’s already starting. We’re not going to tell lies. We need procedures to be able to put in prison.”

We sense a certain incomprehension. However, everyone knows that the problem is complex.

The room listens. We sense a certain incomprehension. However, everyone knows that the problem is complex. “I’m under seal because of all this”, “we can’t take it anymore”, “we are all afraid”,“we want this to stop”, “help us”.

The new commissioner carries out his action, the “will” of his troops on the ground “to ensure that people live peacefully”. And by penalizing consumers (“if there are dealers it’s because there are consumers”) with fines of 200 euros, “They end up saying that they will not return to Tonkin.”

The prefect, whose interventions were systematically accompanied by exasperated sighs, held regular meetings with the public prosecutor of Lyon to list the addresses of the deal points, and to take action. And that the Minister of the Interior followed “very closely the evolution of the situation in Tonkin”.

Read also: Shootings in Tonkin, the 5 measures of the Rhône prefect

An appointment has been made in six months to take stock of the actions of the State and communities. With this anxiety of the establishment of a “crack hill”, like in Porte-de-la-Chapelle, in Paris. Or that of a fatal stray bullet. As, today, in all cities in France.