Alexandre Chauveau (special envoy to Marseille), edited by Solène Leroux with AFP
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10:40 a.m., April 01, 2022
Valérie Pécresse is traveling to Marseille, and the candidate made a surprise trip to the northern districts on Thursday evening. Without the support of the police, she wanted to see the reality of the drug trade that plagues these cities. Candidate LR wants to stand out for her firmness on the sovereign, ten days before the presidential election.
11 p.m., Thursday evening. A convoy of three cars approaches the roundabout of La Paternelle, in the 14th arrondissement of Marseille. Valérie Pécresse came to see a checkpoint at the entrance to the northern districts. A few dozen meters away, a large campfire acts as a toll: it is one of the many deal points in the north of Marseille. “There are lookouts who crisscross all the entrances like that,” explains the candidate’s security service.
“There are checkpoints in the Republic. We cannot leave the territories in the hands of the bosses”, she laments, worrying about “public powerlessness”. After a few minutes, the security service urges the convoy to get back into the vehicles when one of the young people from the neighborhood comes to take a picture of the license plates.
“The Republic is not at home everywhere”
The evening continues at the police station, meeting the local police officers. “The lack of human resources is glaring, but there is also an obvious deficiency in terms of video protection: there are cameras, but we are under-equipped”, he assures the Republican candidate. “We are dealing with people who have colossal means, who make between 30,000 and 90,000 euros a day and use young people as cannon fodder”, explains an FO union representative, at the 15th arrondissement police station.
Ten days before the first round of the presidential election and after a whirlwind visit to Roubaix at the start of the week, Valérie Pécresse multiplies shock trips. The candidate wants both to show the supposed failures of Emmanuel Macron and to put forward his proposals for the safety of the French. Candidate LR criticized the president-candidate on this issue of security: “He came to Marseille twice, he said that was going to change, that the Republic would be at home everywhere, and the Republic is not everywhere in her home.” Valérie Pécresse was to continue her visit on Friday on the sovereign theme by visiting a security center and talking with law enforcement.