French President Emmanuel Macron spoke of an “urgent need to accelerate" the transformation of Marseille Thursday as he rolled out a plan to tackle a “social, health and security emergency” in a city grappling with drugs, violent crime, and dilapidated schools, public housing and hospitals, reports Radio France Internationale.
Admitting that Paris had probably underestimated Marseille’s now endemic problems, Macron rolled out his strategy to stamp out "cumulative poverty" by building and reinforcing links between sports, education, culture and public services.
During a speech at the Pharo Palace on the seafront in front of local officials and selected members of society, Macron described Marseille as a “world city” that was “poorer than other cities … but also full of energy”.
"We need to build the Marseille of 2030 now,” he said, while a post on his official twitter account added: "Together, we can make Marseille great."
The President announced 8 million euros to prop up Marseille’s beleaguered police force, as well as plans to regroup police in two districts of the disadvantaged northern suburbs.
In addition, 150 million euros will be spent on a new police headquarters. Plans to deploy an extra 300 police officers was earlier promised by France’s interior ministry.
Speaking ahead of Macron, Marseille’s socialist mayor, Benoît Payan, warned the city was “affected by arms trafficking, murders in abandoned neighborhoods that are closing in on fear”.
Authorities say there has been an “explosion” in gang-related killings since the middle of June, with 12 deaths in total.
To address the problem of Marseille’s “stricken” educational institutions, a word used by Payan, 50 schools are to be chosen for an educational experiment that hopes to "invent the school of the future”.