A drug-trafficking-related shooting escalated into a fight in the western French city of Poitiers on Thursday night, involving up to 600 people, French authorities said.
A drive-by shooting at a restaurant in the city left five people seriously injured, including a 15-year-old boy who was shot in the head and is in critical condition, police sources told AFP.
Interior Minister Bruno Reitello called the incident an alarming sign of escalating drug-related violence in the country.
Last week, a shooting in the northwestern city of Rennes left a five-year-old boy dead.
Retailleau told broadcaster BFMTV: “These shootings did not take place in South America, but in Rennes, Poitiers, in a region of western France that was once known for its tranquility.”
“We are at a turning point, and the choice we face today is between national mobilization or Mexicanization,” he said, referring to Mexico’s endemic problems with street crime and drug cartel violence.
The mayor of Poitiers called this “unacceptable new violence in the region”.
Police sources said shots were fired from a passing car, injuring several young men.
Photos taken at the scene in Place de Coimbra, an area of the city known for drug crime, showed the restaurant’s facade riddled with bullet holes.
The shooting then sparked fighting between rival groups in the area, according to police.
“Tensions broke out between the groups and required the intervention of police and gendarmes,” Vienne regional police said in a statement.
Retailleau said “400 to 600” people were involved in the melee.
He was scheduled to visit Rennes, the capital of Brittany, on Friday after a shooting on October 26 in which a five-year-old boy sitting in a car was shot in the head. Authorities confirmed the shooting was also drug-related.
France’s drug trade has long been thought to be concentrated in the southern port city of Marseille, where At least 17 drug-related killings It has been reported since the beginning of the year.
But researchers say the impact of drug trafficking in France has grown in recent years Distributed outside the main hubs of Marseille and Paris to medium-sized towns and even rural areas.
