Victims of burglaries and afflicted by a blatant resurgence of crime, the exasperated merchants of Old Nice descended upon City Hall last Friday. Jacques Peyrat received them. He promised to open discussions that he will have this Friday with Dominique de Villepin with their grievances. Case to follow… The merchants, for their part, are circulating a petition until tomorrow evening. It will be sent to the Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy, the prefect of Alpes-Maritimes Pierre Breuil, and Jacques Peyrat.
Extraordinary chronicle of violence, now commonplace in the Old Nice neighborhood. Repeated burglaries and a climate of insecurity have exasperated the merchants. They gathered last Friday to find a solution and, in the absence of representatives from the city hall, decided to go to the City Hall. Jacques Peyrat received them unexpectedly. However, the senator-mayor regretted being “a prisoner of the Republican laws” and stated that he could only act on lighting issues.
“I am aware of the problems you are having and you are not the first to come to see me. For security issues, my powers are limited to my municipal decrees, which are enforced by the municipal police. They don’t like me saying this, but they are just mere constables,” responded senator-mayor Jacques Peyrat to the merchants of Old Nice who came to ask for advice on stopping the escalating violence in this “engine” district of the city of Nice. Criminality peaked on Thursday, January 12 in the late night with fourteen burglaries documented. These acts occur between 1 AM and 4 AM when only the night establishments are open but the streets are deserted. Helpless, the merchants, after a meeting with Christian Estrosi, president of the General Council of Alpes-Maritimes and Minister of Territorial Planning, gathered at the Distilleries Idéales, rue de la Prefecture, a symbol since this cafe suffered two burglaries last week.
From this heated debate featuring Marc Concas, general councilor of the Canton, Hubert Boivin, president of the Union of Employers, Cafe Owners, and Restaurateurs of Alpes-Maritimes, and Florent Vece, president of the Old Nice merchants, mainly emerged a spirit of solidarity, a sense of helplessness, and frustration… Some phrases caught in passing: “It’s unacceptable that there’s no police presence after 11:30 PM,” “We can’t continue like this… If nobody does anything, we will be forced to defend ourselves,” “it’s not only the burglaries, it’s also the fear, the extortion of our children, the drug trafficking happening right before our eyes,” noted one mother.
“We live in a MadMax society,” was a sentiment echoed during an hour of discussion, reflection, and exasperation. The sixty merchants decided to find solutions from the mayor. For nearly two hours, the senator-mayor discussed with his unexpected guests. It was a true moment of democracy where the mayor, surrounded, agreed to address all concerns. Even though some of his remarks caused controversy, and even though Jacques Peyrat did not completely satisfy the merchants, his gesture was commendable and civic, especially after a lively city council meeting.
He was pleased to have given a lecture on the institutions and powers of the mayor to his audience, constantly reminding that all security matters fall under the State and the Ministry of the Interior, thus under Pierre Breuil, prefect of Alpes-Maritimes, and Nicolas Sarkozy. “I can promise you to prioritize reporting your grievances when I discuss with Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin next Friday. It wasn’t planned but given the context, I will speak about you first,” assured Jacques Peyrat, emphasizing that it’s very rare to meet the head of government. He will also discuss the exasperation of the merchants with the Prefect. Honestly, he warned that there is no short-term solution. He nodded when the merchants explained their fears. He shared his feeling: “We live in a MadMax society where criminals have no limits but with laws from the 19th century that are not suitable.” He took the opportunity to settle scores with Eric de Montgolfier, prosecutor of the republic who, according to him, is mainly concerned with Jacques Peyrat: “His dearest dream is to imprison me.” (Editor’s note: “enchrister” means to put in prison).
Questioned about video surveillance, he responded that it’s only effective if there is someone behind the control screens and that the current staffing does not allow for it: “To increase it, we would need to raise taxes, and I do not wish that.” He added that Nice employs the most municipal police officers.
The same response for night patrols: victim of understaffing but also of reduced working hours, and he insisted on the fact that municipal police have limited powers. He also lamented that there are fewer national police officers than when Nice had 100,000 fewer residents.
Since this impromptu meeting at City Hall on Friday, the merchants are trying to gather the maximum number of signatures so that finally, solutions can be found to stop the crimes and offenses in their neighborhood.
