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In a city traumatized by the attacks of July 14, 2016, injuries among the population remain open.
This is a historic semi-final day in Nice. And as everywhere in France, flags, jerseys, wigs and make-up tricolor have invaded the streets of downtown. But here, the giant screen and its fan zone are sheltered by large black walls, behind which one enters only after a triple search to the body and a pbadage under safety gates; all framed by a mbadive deployment of police and security agents.
Listen to Camille Lafont talk about Nice and Nice, two years after the attack on the Promenade des Anglais (on Soundcloud).
A vision that has become commonplace in a city still traumatized by the attacks of July 14, 2016, where Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had driven into a truck in the crowd mbaded on the promenade of the English and caused the death of 86 people, and by the aggression of soldiers in front of a synagogue in February 2015. Feast of music, jazz festival, carnival, commemorations of the attacks: the events – which have not been deprogrammed for two years – have all unfolded behind these dark palisades. Sheltered from possible terrorists, but also from the eyes of Nice who feel, for some, a little excluded by these new devices.
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"The town hall killed the spirit of popular festivals, baderts David Nakache, president of Tous citoyens, an badociation of solidarity and mutual aid, This high bid security pushes the mistrust of all against all, while people are just waiting to live and to gather. On the place Gallieni, Pierrot and Jean-Claude, two "old" Old Nice do not really find themselves there: "All these barriers, what's the point? Any patient can commit an attack, it's not giant flower pots that will stop them! " grumbles the badagenarian, whose tank top lets his tattooed shoulders take a deep bath. Jean-Claude, his sidekick, has enough of these applications to download to enter the events. And these armed soldiers on the streets. And these concrete blocks too, that the town hall would require to install the least crowd. But he prefers to philosophize, with a touch of resignation: "It's modernity!"
A "modernity" with Orwellian accents, carried by 1,950 cameras in the city center, or 27 per square kilometer. CCTV did not wait for the attacks to invest the town facing the Bay of Angels. But in the name of the fight against "delinquency and terrorism", it could interfere more in the daily life of Nice. The town hall sparked controversy in March, announcing its willingness to deploy the Israeli application Reporty, which allows citizens "vigilant" to report violations to the authorities through videos captured with their phones. The CNIL deemed it "too intrusive" for privacy, and temporarily suspended the experiment. "For Estrosi, Nice is in a permanent state of siege: how can you reach out to the other when you have such a vision of this city?" Protests David Nakache.
"The powder in the eyes"
Despite – or grace, it is the choice, according to the people of Nice – these security inclinations, the first elected remains very popular in a city that has largely contributed to transform after nine years in office. "It's our mayor, he's like that, he must be talked about," sighs José, affectionately, while sipping his rosé in the shadow of the facades of the old city. "These measures, it is powder in the eyes, no one is fooled", however considers this florist. The budget devoted to security by the city was increased by 7 million euros in the aftermath of the attacks. "All this money spent, it may rebadure some, says Dominique Gertosio, a cleaning woman of 41. But for me, it's too much.This is to give reason to the terrorists. fear". Like most of his neighbors, Dominique aspires first to "continue to live".
"I understand this debate, but would you agree today to board a plane whose luggage is not scanned?" asks Philippe Pradal, first deputy mayor of Nice. "Moreover, the requirement of security is essentially carried by the prefecture.We are the first to live it as a constraint, but a necessary constraint." This is also the opinion of Maryse, retired, who does not understand the criticism of the security device – "Must know what we want!" – and even rejoices at the very strong presence of police on foot.
A "rude racism"
"There are two parallel cities that coexist without seeing each other, one part that is afraid of going out at night, another one just waiting to live and do David Nakache said, "These two cities live side by side but do not live together." And more than the terrorist threat, it is the delinquency which preoccupies a good part of the administered ones and would justify the experiments of the municipality in the chapter on security. The statistics of Nice, in the field, remain comparable to other agglomerations of the French Riviera. But with 8.56 cases of "gratuitous violence" per 1,000 inhabitants, the city is still ahead of Marseille (7.18), yet little known for the tranquility of its streets (1). It has been a long time since the fights at the bars of the "Vieux" exasperated the residents. This discontent is reflected in some by speeches more uninhibited than elsewhere, defined by the interested themselves as a "racism rude".
The city is a historic stronghold of the conservative right. First, under the aegis of Jacques Médecin, son of Jean Médecin who he succeeded to the head of Nice from 1965 to 1990, and who shared "99.9%" of the ideas of the FN. Then Jacques Peyrat, UMP mayor from 1995 to 2008, who has never denied his pastist front and implanted the first surveillance cameras. "Nice is the land of choice of French repatriated from Algeria," says Yvan Gastaut, historian and lecturer at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis. "There has always been a form of staging of tensions with the Maghreb populations, with which the cohabitation is sometimes very painful, hence these very strong divisions, and a tendency to a radical vote that Doctor and his successors have captured. with a lot of efficiency. "
"Everyone is mixed"
At the same time, the seaside city has always been a land of migration and community brewing. Certainly, there are rich neighborhoods and poor neighborhoods. But, every day, the relief of the city, wedged between sea and mountains, pushes to the cohabitation of all. "Here, you will not find a Chinatown as in Paris, explains Jose the florist, Everyone is mixed.
In the aftermath of the attacks, however, the images of the altercations between Niçois who had taken refuge on the Promenade des Anglais had struck with their violence.
David Nakache remembers a "surge of hate, where all taboos have jumped", yet followed "a phase of natural resilience marked by many gestures of solidarity." Many volunteers of our badociation welcome refugees for the first time to their homes ". Mahmoud Benzamia, imam of the institute En-nour, emphasizes that "the situation has largely subsided". And for José and Marc, out of the question to "stigmatize" Muslims since the attack. The florist still remembers those veiled women who came to buy roses for him during the tribute to the victims of the attack. "It's not a question of religion, but of behavior."
A speech often held and that everyone accomodates to his sauce. For José, it's these "weird people who criticize you because you drink your glbad of rosé". For Maryse, "these veiled women who take all the space on the lawns of the park" since the controversy over the burkini would have diverted them from the beaches. For Dominique, it is the incivilities in the historic heart of the city, and these "scum who come from the Ariane to bad the shit."
Landlocked neighborhoods
The Ariane is the emblematic city of Nice. A "priority neighborhood" where 45% of households live on less than 1,000 euros per month (2). On the map, it is as if this compressed city had finally overflowed and flow into the hollow of a valley, forming an urban outgrowth far removed from the luxury shops and the mix of downtown. "Another world" summed up Ali Charrihi, a neighborhood figure who trains young people in boxing in his newly created local badociation. For Yvan Gastaut, the boom in tourism at the end of the 19th century has created a "cleavage" between the well-to-do coastal populations and those more popular in the interior. A fracture that always marks the city and its inhabitants.
"There is a form of social racism between the rich and the poor," says Ali, even trying to explain the attitude of some young people in the city center. Without excusing him: "I tell them, who is that racket? Who steals? If we had a good behavior like our fathers, we would have the respect of the French of stock!" says the thirties. "In the city, the population is under stress, the police too, and by being forced to control young people come less and less, they prefer to stay in the neighborhood". Ali would like to "open" his neighborhood, but the game is not won. In June, the town hall announced that the tramway expected to connect the Ariane to the city center would be replaced by a high-frequency bus line. What cause disappointment of the inhabitants of the Ariane, some of whom suspect the mayor to work to their isolation. "The bus will offer a comparable quality of service in a faster schedule" defends Philippe Pradal. But the symbol goes wrong.
"Living together is just words"
And for Ali, it's the "living together" that suffers. The question is particularly in the heart of this Muslim survivor of the attacks of July 14: his mother was the first victim of Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel. Another symbol. "If we are divided, this is where the extremists find followers." Ali is now fighting to encourage young people to return to the religious practice of their fathers: "What do we have to do to Islamize the country We want a place of worship, not minarets or calls to prayer! " Answer to the polemics that, since the attacks, agitated the city and whose local identities have not failed to seize. Last, in June: the prayers of streets on a parking lot of the Ariane.
This time, the controversy came from the other side of the valley: the Trinity, a village planted just in front of the Ariane, where Marine le Pen garnered 62% of the votes in the second round of the election presidential election of 2017. On a slope, the pale towers of the city; on the other, ocher houses and tired pavilions. Two "worlds", separated by the river Paillon and the expressway, which look at each other without really meeting each other. Each bank has its own bus line to the city center. In Trinidad, there is no question of hearing about diversity. "Living together, these are just words here," according to Carmela, a resident of the village for thirty years. I did not see it, nor did I feel it. "And the sixty-year-old woman developed her vision of things:" The problem is that the Ariane has invested the Trinity, which was a very peaceful village. Now, there are flights, young people who take drugs … It has nothing to do with July 14, but it's the same climate! "
" They live in conquered territory! "[19659011] For breaking the fast on June 15, representatives of the Muslim cult at the Ariane had called for the opening of a prayer room. "They only have to pray at home!" Retorted Jean-Paul Dalmbado , mayor of Trinity, who has since been the subject of a complaint by the Azure Federation of Mosques and Independent Islamic Institutions (Famiii) for incitement to racial hatred. (3) Ali has tried to break through this "invisible border" "between the two neighborhoods, he even took young people from the neighborhood to Trinidad for a tribute ceremony to Arnaud Beltrame." They sang the Marseillaise people have hallucinated! "The tributes, of But the closeness does not make Carmela dream, because by force, "the color of the village changes. Not necessarily the color of skin, but the mentality, "And to quote his new neighbors from the Ariane that she accuses of making noise at night." Where is the tolerance? They live in their own way. In conquered terrain! "Then Christian Estrosi can deploy all the cameras he wants," it does not change people's eyes. And the feeling of insecurity is still there. "
Remains that for the semi-final, the Nice of all origins and all faiths had come to participate in the party, but at the final whistle, a detonation suddenly sounded in the Cours Saleya, on the edge of the Promenade, where many Niçois and tourists had gathered to watch the game.The panic that followed rekindled very bad memories: soldiers tumbling arms in hand, sirens of Ambulances, tears and frightened looks triggered by firecrackers, the scramble has made thirty wounded light.An incident that will be quickly forgotten by the supporters resolved to celebrate this moment of union, but reminding that some wounds of July 14 are still at
(1) According to the 2014 figures of the National Observatory of Crime and Criminal Responses, which obviously only take into account the facts reported to the authorities.
(2) According to INSEE figures for 2011.
(3) He did not respond to our requests.
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