Emmanuel Macron is preparing to present a plan to respond to Marseille’s “emergencies” – archyworldys

The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, arrived on Wednesday 1^er September in the afternoon in Marseille, to present a plan to meet the ” emergency room “ social, educational, economic and security that accumulates the second city of France, seven months before the presidential election. Accompanied by seven ministers, the Head of State is expected to announce the release of significant financial resources for schools, transport and urban renewal.

Arriving at Marseille town hall, Mr. Macron was hissed and booed by a few dozen people who shouted “Macron, resignation”. A vast security perimeter had been set up on the quays of the Old Port before the arrival of the president.

The Head of State then discussed, during a meeting, with about twenty local elected officials, including the president of the metropolis, Martine Vassal (Les Républicains), and deputies, including Jean-Luc Mélenchon (La France rebellious), elected in Marseille. “Everyone understands that he is on an election campaign. (…) In Marseille, it is the pilgrimage of promises: we had first Sarkozy, then Ayrault, then Valls… They had promised to rehabilitate but so many years later, nothing has been done, so people are exasperated “, reacted the deputy LFI, at the exit of the meeting.

“Our young people are suffering”

The visit continued at the end of the afternoon on the ground, to meet the inhabitants of the city of Bassens, in the northern districts of the city, affected by violence and drug trafficking. Taking a walkabout in this city of the 15th^e district, the Head of State first spoke with young people gathered on a low wall to see him.

“We have an abandoned school, there is nothing for us”, launched one of them. “Education is essential, we must bet on it so that young people do not drift away”, told him a young educator working in a housing estate in a neighboring arrondissement, les Marronniers, where a 14-year-old teenager was shot dead on August 18 near a deal point. “Young people, once they have their feet in the stirrup, it’s fine”, he added.

Progressing in the middle of the crowd, Emmanuel Macron then went to speak to a group of women, even holding the hand of one of them, very moved. “I have suffered so much, there are no words, I want to leave” of the city, launched another. “Our young people are suffering”, then entrusted another resident of the neighborhood to the Head of State.

In the early evening, the president must address the subject of insecurity, at the northern Marseille police station, after a summer marked by a dozen bloody settling of scores, always against the backdrop of drug trafficking. Mr. Darmanin has already promised 300 additional police officers in Marseille by 2023, but the mayor estimates that 800 national police officers are still lacking. In the evening, the Head of State will meet local elected officials at Fort d’Entrecasteaux.

Several figures of the right also denounce the insecurity in the city, where bloody settling of scores has multiplied this summer. While denouncing, like the National Rally (RN), “A comedy [du] Macron candidate ”.

To show the mobilization of the State, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, announced on Tuesday evening an operation to combat drug trafficking in the city of Flamingos, following a report on the program ” Daily ”on lookouts who control the neighborhood with a barrier blocking the street. “No lawless zone on the territory of the Republic, in Marseille as elsewhere”, Mr. Darmanin tweeted, specifying that four people were arrested in this operation, very classic in Marseille.

Screaming transport deficit

Thursday morning, he must attend the start of the school year in an establishment in the northern districts. The municipality has announced a vast plan to renovate more than 200 of the city’s 472 schools, for 1.2 billion euros, part of which will be supported by the state. The president should also make announcements to fill the glaring transport deficit in Marseille, which has only two metro lines for 870,000 inhabitants. Investments are expected to rehabilitate substandard housing, nearly three years after the death of eight people in the collapse of a building rue d’Aubagne.

After a dinner on Thursday with Mario Draghi, the head of the Italian government, Mr. Macron will dedicate the day Friday to the environment with a sea trip in the Calanques National Park and the opening of the world congress of the International Union for nature conservation, which takes place in Marseille until September 11.