In order to reduce malicious acts, incivilities, and the feeling of insecurity, with the aim of protecting public space circulation, Christian ESTROSI, Deputy Mayor of Nice, issued today a municipal anti-gathering order for the Notre Dame neighborhood*. According to Christian ESTROSI: “With the messages of laxity sent for months by the government, and especially the Minister of Justice, crime is rising and incivilities are exploding.”
“Faced with the failure of the Government while the national police is perfectly mobilized around the Prefect in a partnership approach with the municipal police, the people of Nice are exasperated by these individuals who gather, congregate, and linger for hours, abusively occupying the city sidewalks and preventing free movement,” explained the Mayor of Nice.
We won’t hide behind words, there is indeed a form of petty ethnic crime in this neighborhood, and it must certainly be combated. That said, we should not amplify the phenomenon by attributing all the world’s ills to it. The Mayor of Nice speaks of a “dozen individuals” and an action in partnership between the national and municipal police: Should we conclude that the combined police forces are not capable of controlling and managing this dozen people?
And how to explain the contradiction in the chosen terms between the Government’s lax policy and the exemplariness of the Prefect’s action who, until proven otherwise, represents the State in the territory? Should we deduce that the Prefect leads an action that is not aligned with that of the Government?
The situation is not that simple, but a certain logical sense should be maintained to approach it in the best possible way with the sole aim of solving the problem rather than making it the subject of polemics.
Unless, of course, at the base of this offensive, it is part of the strategy of a UMP which, at the request of Jean-Franรงois Copรฉ during the Political Bureau of March 20th, is very much determined to try to weaken the Minister of the Interior, Manuel Valls.
Continuing Christian ESTROSI’s press release
“With the messages of laxity sent for months by the government, and especially the Minister of Justice, crime is rising and incivilities are exploding.
In February in the City of Nice, the results of the Government policy are +15.90% in offenses against individuals (60 more victims over the month), +33% in assaults and voluntary injuries, +3% in offenses against property, +15% in burglaries (where they had already increased by 24% in 2012), +30% in pickpocketing, +10% in theft with violence.
These results are moreover mitigated by the 762 surveillance cameras that I decided to install, which help to prevent and solve many offenses.
From the moment a dozen individuals disrupt the life of the people of Nice with their presence and minor trafficking in a street, it is my responsibility to give the necessary powers to the law enforcement agencies to stop this situation. It is my duty as mayor to ensure the peace and tranquility of the people of Nice when they simply use public roads or wish to frequent the squares and promenades of the city.
As I did with the anti-begging ordinance, the ordinance banning alcohol consumption on public roads, the ordinance on night groceries, or the curfew for minors, I wish to give one more tool to my municipal police, which is increasingly called upon but does not always have the means to act.
An assessment of this order taken for 3 months will then be made to see if it should be extended and made permanent.”
