How France is turning into a 'Mexicanized narco-state' with drug wars fought across the country, teenagers being stabbed and burned alive, and gangsters breaking kingpins out of custody in daring ambushes By Taryn Pedler Published: 20:44 EST, 6 November 2024 | Updated: 20:44 EST, 6 November 2024 e-mail View comments Rampant drug-fuelled violence in France is turning the country into what has been dubbed a 'Mexicanized narco-state' by a leading politician. Narco wars are being fought across the country and have seen teenagers and children shot, stabbed and burned alive, gang kingpins broken out of custody, and cocaine washed up on beaches. France's new conservative interior minister recently declared war on the operating gangs after a 15-year-old boy was caught in the crossfires and killed in a massive brawl and gunfight in Poitiers, on November 1.
The violence erupted in front of a restaurant and turned into a shootout involving up to 600 people, France's Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said. 'Narco scum today have no limits, this isn't happening in South America but in Rennes, in Poitiers, in parts of western France that once enjoyed a reputation for peace and quiet,' the minister added. He spoke during a visit to Rennes, Brittany, where a five-year-old boy was left with critical injuries after being hit in the head by a stray bullet during a drug-related collision at the end of last month.
But not even 24 hours after Retailleau left the city, a 19-year-old died after bei.
