Bagnols-sur-Cèze: in Escanaux, the mayor has concrete blocks installed, a precarious solution to counter drug trafficking

Pedestrian and vehicle access are now blocked by this type of block. Midi Libre – C. C.

Blocks between buildings to dissuade consumers from coming to buy at the most important deal point in Escanaux. Midi Libre – C. C.

No more vehicle access possible from Avenue de la Mayre to Allée des Lauriers. Midi Libre – C. C.

Des blocs entre les immeubles pour dissuader les consommateurs de venir se fournir dans le point de deal le plus important des Escanaux. Midi Libre – C. C.

They were installed this Thursday, January 16 at dawn, around the most important trafficking point in the Escanaux district. The residents are doubtful about the effectiveness of the measure. If drug trafficking ruins their daily lives, it does not hinder the solidarity that has always existed between them. For the mayor, whose means are limited, it is a question of 'harassing the dealers and containing the consumers. Blocks to form a block within the blocks". 

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As announced in a report on the France 2 television news on Wednesday evening, this Thursday, January 16 at dawn, pedestrian and car accesses to the Escanaux district were closed with concrete blocks by city officials, in the presence of the mayor. By car, for example, Allée des Lauriers is no longer accessible via Avenue de la Mayre. There is now only one entry and exit point for this supply point, which will be controlled by the police. The stated objective: to disrupt customers and lookouts, and move this important drug dealing point (read elsewhere). “Harass dealers and contain consumers. Blocks to form a block within blocks”, Jean-Yves Chapelet announced a few hours later in a Facebook post. An operation that the municipality, in conjunction with the police, had been preparing for over a week. An operation that comes a week after the mayor's open letter to the Minister of the Interior, to whom he asks “a strong commitment from the State”.
In the morning and later in the day, the hooded lookouts were still there, passing bags over the walls. In Bagnols, residents wondered about the effectiveness of such a measure and the fact that the times of the police presence had been announced on TV. “Giving the time slots for the presence of the police who are supposed to stop the traffic” seems absurd to the Bagnolais we met yesterday in the city center and in Escanaux.

“At Christmas, in the drug dealing blocks, they gave gifts to the children”

Traffic is ruining the daily lives of residents. A retiree who has just moved told us in December: “They do their business in the stairwell, they prevent us from going up to our place.”
Other Bagnolais met this Thursday were keen to testify to the great solidarity that exists in Escanaux. For example, Nadia(*), a thirty-something who grew up here and now lives in a village. She often comes back with her children who like to have fun in the square. “It's the only place I know where there is solidarity.” On the dealers, Nadia confides: “Yes, they make noise, fire mortars. They do what they do. But they are polite. At Christmas, in the drug dealing blocks, they offered gifts to the children, food and drink. Same at Halloween. Yes, they don't have the right to sell death. But if they don't have a job, have nothing to eat, they're going to steal ? They do that, it's easier.”

“We are locked in our neighborhood, even if the walls are transparent”

Her friend, Valérie(*), has lived in Escanaux for ten years: “People are afraid, it's normal, me too, before living here, I was afraid, I was fed by TV. Life in this neighborhood is friendly. I feel safe and I like it. I've never been happier”, so rich are the sharings between human beings of all generations and origins. The two ladies continue: “I'm blonde”, “I'm Arab.” “We became best friends. And here, there is mutual support.” They cite the support for this migrant who slept on a cardboard box or the kitty launched to help mothers in great difficulty. “And in the summer, everyone laughs with everyone else.”The two friends realized how, before, “we were narrow-minded”. “I learned to open my heart. I met exceptional people here that I will never forget”, Valérie continues. Inexhaustible, Nadia shares again: “They don't want deals anymore but they park them all together. They are pushed aside from society. We are locked in our neighborhood, even if the walls are transparent.”

“Traffic has always existed and will always exist”

Further on, two fatalistic men say: “Traffic has always existed and will always exist… They feed families…”
If these concrete blocks now block the traffic of dealers and their clients, they also block the path of honest people. Laïla(*) must now make a big detour to pick up her children from school.

(*) At the request of the interested parties, the first names have been changed. I subscribe to read the rest