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French government under pressure over Marseille gun deaths

   Marseille senator and mayor calls for army to deal with drug gangs
   after 19th gun-related death in the region this year
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   French Interior Minister Manuel Valls
   French interior minister Manuel Valls tells the press it is out of
   question to deploy soldiers in Marseille after the latest gun-related
   death in the city. Photograph: Patrick Kovarik/AFP/Getty Images

   The French government is under growing pressure to contain Marseille's
   deadly drug wars after the 19th gun-related death in the region this
   year.
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   to be sent in to control estates in the city.

   As Marseille prepares to become European capital of culture next year,
   the growing problem of drug dealers setting scores with AK-47s has
   blighted its public relations drive. On Wednesday, a 25-year-old known
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   travelled in the passenger seat of a Renault Twingo in the north of the
   city. It was the 14th gun-related death connected to drug gangs in
   Marseille since the start of this year, the 19th in the region. A few
   weeks earlier another 25-year-old who had recently been released from
   prison died in hospital after he was shot in the south of the city.
   This year's Marseille gang deaths already exceed the figures for the
   whole of 2011.

   The Socialist senator and mayor of two Marseille districts, Samia
   Ghali, warned: "It's now useless sending a coach of riot police to stop
   the dealers. When one is stopped, 10 more take up the flame. It's like
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   French government under pressure over Marseille gun deaths
   This article was published on the Guardian website at 18.33 BST on
   Thursday 30 August 2012. It was last modified at 20.30 BST on Tuesday 2