Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

France’s drugs war is spiralling out of control

Police officers stand guard in Rennes (Credit: Getty images)

Even by the bloody standards of what France has become under Emmanuel Macron, the carnage last week was horrific. In Poitiers, a shootout left five youths seriously wounded, one of whom died of his injuries at the weekend. In Rennes, a 5-year-old remains in a serious state after being hit in the head by a stray bullet.

In Valence, a 22-year-old man was shot dead and two others wounded as they queued outside a nightclub for a Halloween party on Thursday night; the following day an 18-year-old was gunned down and killed in a suburb of the same town. In Villeurbanne, a suburb of Lyon, a man was shot dead, and in Clermont-Ferrand a teenage is in a critical condition after receiving a bullet in the head.

Barely a day goes by when Retailleau is not confronted by what he calls the “Mexicanisation” of France

The 22-year-old who was killed outside the nightclub in Valence has been named as Nicolas, a member of the Romans-Péage rugby club.

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