Drugs, violence and racism are creating a ‘cocktail of neglect’ in Marseille

A spate of killings this summer, including that of a “I’m not sure there is any political will,” Pujol says. “Because as soon as there’s an election, we make use of the working-class areas to speak about violence, immigration, jobs, and the people who allegedly don’t want to work.” Marseille has already been used as a talking point by far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, seeking to defeat Macron in the upcoming elections after losing to him in a run-off in 2017. Writing on Twitter in August, Le Pen said there was “only one solution” to the “savagery and drug trafficking” of Marseille, calling for stricter border controls to restrict immigration.The problem doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon — with around half a dozen incidents of murder since Macron’s first visit, although only one has been classified as a “settling of scores” by police so far. Kessaci, the youth activist, points out that Macron is far from the first French head of state to try and tackle Marseille. He is frustrated by the lack of consultation with residents in Macron’s plan — and says that’s why he’s skeptical about change.”We’re in the middle of this war between the left and the right, and we just keep watching, we get killed,” he says. “In the middle of all these politicians, there are human lives at stake. As long as people who’ve never lived it are making the decisions, they’ll never understand.”