2015 Marseille shooting
| 2015 Marseille shooting | |
|---|---|
| Part of aftermath of 2015 Île-de-France attacks | |
 La Castellane | |
| Location | La Castellane, Marseille |
| Date | 9 February 2015 |
| Target | Drug gang, police |
Attack type | Shooting |
| Weapons | Kalashnikov rifles |
| Deaths | 0 |
| Injured | 1[citation needed] |
| Perpetrators | Drug gang |
On 9 February 2015, hooded gunmen in the French city of Marseille sparked a lockdown after they fired Kalashnikov rifles at police officers while Manuel Valls, the French Prime Minister, was visiting the city. It is thought that the shooting was gang-related, but due to the recent Charlie Hebdo shooting and the Porte de Vincennes hostage crisis during the 2015 Île-de-France attacks, the entire troubled Marseille suburb of La Castellane was under lockdown for hours.[specify] No one was injured.[citation needed]
Incident[edit]
Shortly after gunfire occurred near a police car,[1] the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group locked down the area. A number of arrests were made, resulting in the seizure of seven Kalashnikovs, two .357 Magnum revolvers and around 20 kilograms of drugs.[2] However, it soon became clear that the gunmen were not aiming at the police; instead, the gunfire was the result of a turf war between two gangs,[3] selling primarily cannabis and cocaine. Drug-traffickers as a whole in La Castellane are reported to make between 50,000 and 60,000 euros a day as of 2015.
Aftermath[edit]
Shortly after the shooting, Manuel Valls called it an example of "apartheid", whereby some French citizens who live in such neighbourhoods feel excluded from society.
References[edit]
- ^ Marc Leras, Marseille police shot at by hooded gunmen, prior to French PM visit, The Christian Science Monitor, 9 February 2015
- ^ marseille : pourquoi le trafic garde la main à la castellane, La Provence, 11 February 2015
- ^ Maia de la Baume, Shots Fired Near Marseille on Day of French Prime Minister’s Visit, The New York Times, February 09, 2015
 | This crime-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |