He is still in intensive care in a room at the South Hospital in Rennes. Plunged into a coma since Saturday evening, this 5-year-old child was the collateral victim of an ultra-violent settling of scores. While his father tried to take him to his mother's house to keep him safe, this very young boy was hit by two bullets, one of which was in the head. Saturday evening, around 10:30 p.m., his father was chased while he was heading towards Pacé, coming under bursts of gunfire which struck his son. The driver of the vehicle, already known for his involvement in drug trafficking, escaped unhurt. However, her child's vital prognosis remains compromised.
Two days after this targeted attack, there was astonishment in Rennes, where the CRS 82 specialized in urban violence was deployed. Because that very morning, heavy gunfire rang out in the Maurepas district, which has been plagued for years by drug trafficking.
The prefect speaks of “innocent victims”
It is in this very tense context that the new prefect of Ille-et-Vilaine and Brittany took office this Monday. Already put under pressure by the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau, the former prefect of Corsica Amaury de Saint-Quentin assured that he would “do everything possible” to restore calm and order. “It is abnormal that innocent victims, such as this 5-year-old child, suffer the consequences of this type of phenomenon. You have to be firm about these behaviors. Our fellow citizens, here in Brittany as elsewhere, need authority and firmness in the face of phenomena that are not acceptable. I am determined to combat this type of behavior,” he promised after laying a wreath in front of the prefecture hotel.
On Sunday, the Minister of the Interior had already announced his desire to “protect residents from drug scavengers”. It's about time. Because in Rennes, as in Marseille, Grenoble or in too many working-class neighborhoods, residents suffer the violence of this very lucrative trafficking on a daily basis. Present for this ceremony, the socialist mayor of Rennes Nathalie Appéré must speak today with the new prefect, with the hope that this tragedy will not happen again. “When this affects a 5-year-old child, we cross a threshold of astonishment and horror.”
A plan against traffic called for urgently
Since her election in 2014, the mayor has continued to demand additional resources to try to stem the rise in violence in her city. According to the police unions, around a hundred positions would be necessary in the Ille-et-Vilaine department alone. But beyond just the numbers on the ground, Nathalie Appéré calls for a “national or even European” plan to fight drug trafficking, drawing inspiration in particular from the fight against terrorism.
“Terrorism has not been eradicated. But we were collectively able to equip ourselves with a certain number of tools. I am thinking of the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office, dedicated sentences, intelligence services but also the way of organizing public spaces. This struggle has produced results. It must be reproduced in the fight against narcotics. Because we are facing international mafias, organized crime,” explained the mayor.
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Sometimes criticized, the elected socialist dismissed the idea of a form of carelessness in Rennes. “There is no laxity. But there is none from anyone. Justice is doing its job, the police are doing their job. There are investigations that are progressing. I have no doubt that there will be arrests and convictions but these are all the levers that we must use. But I think that at the national level, we are under-equipped to deal with what is organized crime which is increasingly dangerous.”
