Bartender, DJ, waiter… All of them suffer from the insecurity linked to their job. To deal with this, the night professionals of the city of Nantes (Loire-Atlantique) have created an association – Sécurité Nocturne Nantes (S2N) – and offer their members free self-defense training.
If it is not a question of being the police yourself, the idea is to learn the basics of the few techniques that allow you to defend yourself and put an attacker on the run.
“These are really simple gestures, so that they can free themselves from a situation of aggression or from the grip of a person who wishes them harm,” explains trainer Anthony.
A 4-HOUR TRAINING
At the end of this first free 4-hour training, night professionals should have learned to touch the sensitive points – plexus, knee or even ankle – of their attacker, and be able to perform a series of gestures.
But be careful to always have a proportionate response so as never to become an aggressor in turn. “Our goal is not to go and do someone else’s job, especially not that of the police, but it’s to protect ourselves,” explains Pascal, the manager of a bar in Nantes.
“It’s good to learn these first gestures, and to master them afterwards”, also advances Alexandre, waiter in a bar in the city, who has already been attacked by a customer at the end of the service.
A mobilization organized this Friday
On the day of the training, six of the nine night professionals who came to train had already had to deal with an assault. “Physical and verbal attacks, but also a phone theft or a man who came to pickpocket customers,” says Guillaume, security guard in Nantes and co-founder of the S2N association.
Created in August 2019, his association works with the public authorities to fight against insecurity in Nantes and its agglomeration. It pursues 4 objectives: “to find the good life in Nantes”, “to sensitize the population of Nantes to the dangers of the street”, “to be taken more into consideration by the police and the administrations” and “to support the victims of violence. or assaults.
Violence, pickpockets but also knife attacks and sexual assaults… At the call of the association, a mobilization must be organized at 2 p.m., this Friday, March 11, in front of the town hall of Nantes, faced with the observation that “the days pass” and that “the number of acts of violence continues to increase”.
For months, the largest city in western France, prefecture of the Pays de la Loire region, has been particularly affected by insecurity. So much so that the municipality has decided to deploy 60 additional video surveillance cameras, and to increase joint operations between the municipal and national police.