2015 Marseille shooting

Last updated
2015 Marseille shooting
Part of aftermath of 2015 Île-de-France attacks
Lacastellane-16-marseille.JPG
La Castellane
Location La Castellane, Marseille
Date9 February 2015
TargetDrug gang, police
Attack type
Shooting
Weapons Kalashnikov rifles
Deaths0
Injured1[ citation needed ]
PerpetratorsDrug 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 ]

Contents

Incident

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

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.

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