Thanks to a train subsidized by the Occitan region, Arab and black youths were able to travel to the beach. But fights, vandalism and aggressive behaviour have riled residents and traders who say they have had have enough.
From June to September, the small village was encircled by visitors as well as law enforcement. At fixed times – five times a day during the week, and six times over weekends – the microscopic Grau-du-Roi station, a Gard seaside resort planted in the middle of the Camargue, looked besieged under its parasol pines [Pinus pinea].
Gendarmes were searching bags, while railway safety officers and mediators were constantly on the lookout, not to mention the many rounds of the municipal police: up to 15 people daily filtered the passengers arriving on the only rail link joining Nîmes, 40 kilometers away, with this small fishing port of 8 500 inhabitants.
A single fare – generously subsidized by the Occitan region with its Socialist administration – was offered at an unbeatable price: 1 euro per passenger per trip. However, in 2011, it was still the train for poor families of Nîmes, but it has has now become the train of petty crime, much to the chagrin of the inhabitants, traders and tourists who are witnessing their tranquil space being tranformed into a den-of-iniquity.
Inhabitants say they have had enough of being forced to coexist either in the picturesque streets around Grau-du-Roi, on the beach or the town center, with these visitors coming from the difficult neighborhoods of “French Rome”.
A quick trip to the only supermarket downtown is enough to measure the extent of the phenomenon and the indignation, noted reporter Alexandre Mendel.
For the summer season, Gaël Cailleton, boss of the Super U, has had to hire two security guards. “And again, two weeks ago, I also had to hire nightclub bouncers,” he complained. At each arrival of the 1-euro train, this little supermarket takes on the appearance of a besieged fortress.
“We close three doors out of four, facing this human tide that arrives. And all that for kids of 14 and 15 years old who travel without accompanying persons.”
A perpetrator is meanwhile still actively wanted by the gendarmerie in the Gard. The individual is suspected of having committed a robbery in a mobile home located in a campsite in Espiguette, in Grau-du-Roi, the gendarmerie services told 20 minutes on Monday morning.
According to information, the noises heard on the CCTV cameras, viewed by the gendarmes, would suggest that there was a shooting. The gendarmes could not confirm the nature of it. No injuries have been reported so far.
The unwanted visitors Grau-du-Roi have also crowded the beach with burkinis and headscarves. And reports of wide-spread drug dealing have surfaced.
In Cannes, Mayor David Lisnard (LR) has already issued a decree banning the wearing of burkini on the beaches. The city of Nice has done the same against the wearing of this controversial swimwear.
Last week, photos of a control by police on a beach of Nice elicited strong reactions on social media. The photos showed an Arab woman with a turban on her hair, taking off her tunic in front of municipal police officers.