La Castellane | |
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Neighbourhood | |
Residential buildings in La Castellane | |
Coordinates: 43°22′01″N 5°20′31″E / 43.367°N 5.342°E |
La Castellane is a neighbourhood in the 16th arrondissement of Marseille, France. Built as a Modernist council estate in the 1960s for French refugees of the Algerian War of 1954–1962, it is now home to about 7,000 residents, many of whom are second-generation French citizens. The neighbourhood is plagued by unemployment, drug trafficking, prostitution, and arms smuggling. It is also known for being the neighbourhood where the footballer Zinedine Zidane grew up. [1]
La Castellane is located in the Verduron district in the northwestern edge of Marseille, [2] the second largest city in France after its capital Paris. [3] It is just off the A55 autoroute. [4]
The neighbourhood was built on the grounds of the ancient marquisate of Foresta. [2] The idea of building tall, modern buildings was first broached in 1955. [2] They were designed by architect Pierre Meillassoux, who was inspired by master architect Xavier Arsène-Henry and, to a certain extent, Oscar Niemeyer. [2] The housing complex, completed in the 1960s, consists of eleven buildings containing 1,249 apartments. [2] As of 2015, the buildings are said to be run-down. [5]
The neighbourhood first served as a council estate for refugees of the Algerian War of 1954–1962, as a result of the loss of French Algeria during the presidency of General Charles de Gaulle. [2] Shortly after, immigrants from Morocco moved to La Castellane, followed by others from Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbeans. [2] It is now home to about 7,000 residents, many of whom are second-generation French citizens. [3] [6] [5] For example, it is the hometown of football player Zinedine Zidane, whose parents were born in Algeria. [6] [5] Lamine Gassama, another football player who grew up in La Castellane, was born to parents from Senegal. [7] As in many other underserved French banlieues, young people from La Castellane are "condemned to excellence" to achieve success and recognition in mainstream society, often through football. [8]
In the first round of the 2017 presidential election, the 15th arrondissement voted 27% for Marine Le Pen, the Front National candidate. [9] This support for far right political organizations in the neighborhoods nearby La Castellane reflects the tensions between ethnically European and immigrant populations living in Marseille and throughout France. [10] Part of a national phenomenon, the lack of integration of immigrants into mainstream French society has led to many living in La Castellane to not identify themselves as French. [6] The social divisions between banlieues like La Castellane and mainstream France are also clear from anti-immigrant rhetoric in local and national politics, which purports that people from the banlieues are not truly French. [11]
The neighbourhood is plagued by unemployment, drug trafficking, prostitution and arms smuggling. [3] [12] There are three drug-trafficking networks: "place du Mérou", "Tour K", and "La Jougardelle". [13] French newspapers have suggested the neighbourhood is known as a "supermarket" for illegal drugs. [13]
In June 2013, French police took down a drug-trafficking syndicate, including 1.3 million euros in cash split between several smugglers, weapons and drugs. [5] In December 2014, a state school was burnt down in La Castellane. [14] A month later, in January 2015, a young man was gunned down, as was another young man in 2011. [5]
On 9 February 2015, shortly after gunfire at a police car during the 2015 Marseille shooting, [15] the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group seized seven Kalashnikov rifles, two .357 Magnum revolvers and around 20 kilograms of drugs; [3] [5] [16] however, the gunmen were not aiming at the police; instead, it was the result of a turf war between two gangs, [17] selling primarily cannabis and cocaine. [12] Drug-traffickers as a whole in La Castellane were reported in 2015 to make between 50,000 and 60,000 euros a day. [5] Shortly after the February incident, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who was visiting Marseille, called it an example of " apartheid", whereby French citizens who live in such neighbourhoods feel excluded from society. [3]
On June 15, 2015, French police arrested 33 suspected drug traffickers, including Socialist Senator Samia Ghali's chauffeur, as well as weapons and several kilograms of cannabis. [13] Bernard Cazeneuve, the French Interior Minister, suggested drug-trafficking was used to fund terrorism on French soil, and reiterated his commitment to restore order. [13]
In April 2016, some buildings were scheduled to be demolished in an effort to put an end to drug-trafficking. [18]