Shooting leads to massive gang fight in Poitiers – DW – 01.11.2024

A shootout between rival drug gangs left five teenagers with gunshot wounds and sparked a violent brawl involving hundreds of participants Thursday night in the western French city of Poitiers.

French Interior Minister Bruno Retailo told BFM TV on Friday that drug violence in France had reached a “tipping point”.

Retailleau cited police reports that said between 400 and 600 people were involved in the fight, carrying “various weapons.”

“It all started with a shooting in a restaurant. It ended with a clash between rival gangs, in which several hundred people participated,” he said.

The police used tear gas and sent in reinforcements

When police arrived at the scene on Thursday, they fired tear gas and it took nearly an hour to restore order.

First responders reportedly found a 15-year-old boy with a serious gunshot wound to the head and two teenagers — ages 15 and 16 — who also suffered serious gunshot wounds. All three were hospitalized.

Two other people, both 16 years old, went to the emergency hospital on their own with minor injuries.

Police said they found at least ten .22 shell casings at the scene and announced that state police would be dispatched to the Couronnerie district of Poitiers, where “tensions are raging between different groups.”

Interior minister says choice between ‘full mobilization’ or ‘Mexicanisation’

Retailleau presented a stark choice for France moving forward: “total mobilization” or “Mexicanization.”

He is expected to announce new anti-trafficking measures in Marseille next week, where he will appear with Justice Minister Didier Migot.

Since taking office in a new compromise government led by Prime Minister Michel Barnier— elected after special elections controversially called by the president Emmanuel Macron right after the crash in the elections to the European Parliament.

Drug-related gang violence has become a major problem in France, with many cities directly affected by deadly conflicts.

A report by an investigative committee of the French Senate recently estimated annual revenue from the drug trade in France at 3-6 billion euros ($3.3-6.6 billion).

“Narcotics no longer have limits… These shootings are not happening in South America, they are happening in Rennes, in Poitiers… we are at a tipping point,” Retailo said on Friday.

He was referring to a five-year-old boy who was hit in the head by two bullets on October 27, caught in the crossfire of a car chase and shootout on a highway in northwest Rennes. He said the “investigation of the case is progressing”, adding that the boy’s life was still in danger.

Concern over the issue is believed to have led many voters in France to support Marine Le Pen’s far-right, anti-migrant National Union party, which has long highlighted the issue in both EU and French elections.

js/msh (AFP, dpa, Reuters)