5. France Drones proposed to tackle Marseille crime A mayoral candidate has proposed the use of drones over the streets of Marseille to combat the city's notorious network of drug dealers and reputation for violent crime. Eugène Caselli Marseilles mayoral candidate Eugène Caselli Photo: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP -- Comments Comments Eugène Caselli, the Socialist Party president of the Marseille urban community, and mayoral candidate, proposed on Thursday that drone aircraft be used to seek out drug-dealing and violent crime on the -- he added. A petition called 'Will It Take Batman To Save Marseille?', was launched after a vigilante pensioner was shot dead after he ran over robbers and then confronted them with a baseball bat and pepper spray. -- Related Articles * Crime, corruption and cover-up in Marseille 12 Oct 2012 * Marseille mayor calls for army to tackle gang warfare 30 Aug 2012 * German railways deploys surveillance drones -- Among the concerns are fears that drones would risk invading the privacy of law-abiding Marseille residents. Police officer David-Olivier Reverdy said: "Before we send in drones, -- and to break them up." Crime in Marseille has spiralled with the 13 gun murders in 2013 alone prompting the emergency deployment of 130 extra riot police and 24 more detectives. #publisher Art and design RSS feed Architecture RSS feed Travel RSS feed Marseille RSS feed Culture RSS feed Turn autoplay off -- * Architecture Marseille's £6bn Capital of Culture rebirth Marseille – the port city once notorious for gangs, drugs and violence – is in the grip of a £6bn rebirth. Will its flashy new architecture, including a giant mirror by Norman Foster, make it a -- The smell of cement dust and freshly caught fish wafts through the harbour of Marseille, to a backdrop of pneumatic drills and high-pressure hoses. Everywhere you look, the city is being polished and scrubbed, renovated and repainted. Roads are being resurfaced, -- which began three months ago. "Marseille is never in a hurry," says my taxi driver, describing how the city has been a building site for the last 10 years. As he speaks, he takes a diversion around three huge holes in the ground that will -- It's a philosophy of quiet intervention that does not seem to be shared by the architects operating a little way down the waterfront. Here, on the once-abandoned J4 pier, stand the flagship projects of Marseille's bid to be recognised as a cultural centre. The Villa Méditerranée, designed by Italian architect Stefano Boeri, is the first thing you see -- first stand-alone national museum outside Paris. Due to open in June, Mucem is something of a coup for Marseille. Nestling beneath the craggy wall of Fort Saint-Jean, a 17th-century stronghold that once housed the Foreign Legion, the squat glass -- to the town. Exploiting the natural drama of Mucem's steep hillside setting, this is a brilliant, brazen move that, no matter what the museum houses, will provide one of Marseille's most thrilling new walks. -- until 2020 – in total bringing 24,000 new homes, 1m square metres of offices, and 150 acres of public space. This will no doubt give Marseille the economic boost it needs, although how far this will filter out into the impoverished peripheries is questionable. The city's bold embrace of such grands projets is, however, nothing new. When Louis XIV had Fort Saint-Jean built, way back in 1660, he said: "We noticed that the inhabitants of Marseille were extremely fond of nice fortresses." Little did he know that, 350 years on, they would still be building them. -- Close this popup Marseille's £6bn Capital of Culture rebirth This article was published on the Guardian website at 17.59 BST on Monday 1 April 2013. A version appeared on p16 of the G2 section of the -- Travel * Marseille Culture More features * More on Marseille * A shiny shade structure for Marseille by Foster and Partners Marseille's moment As European Capital of Culture, Marseille is shaking off its seedy image, says Vanessa Thorpe, with a year of extraordinary arts events and a series of breathtaking architectural projects * An art and shopping tour of Marseille * Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse rooftop gym transformed into art space * Marseille * Share #publisher Books RSS feed Thrillers RSS feed Fiction RSS feed Culture RSS feed Travel RSS feed Marseille RSS feed France RSS feed Europe RSS feed Life and style RSS feed French food and drink RSS feed -- * Books Garlic, Mint, & Sweet Basil: Essays on Marseilles, Mediterranean Cuisine, and Noir Fiction by Jean-Claude Izzo – review -- Jump to comments (…) Le Panier, one of the oldest area in Marseilles, France. "Wherever you are from, you feel at home in Marseilles" … Jean-Claude Izzo on his hometown. Photograph: Alamy 1. Garlic, Mint and Sweet Basil -- Izzo published his first novel at the age of 50 in 1995. Total Chaos – part of the Marseilles trilogy, which is published for the first time in the UK this month – helped define the crime sub-genre now known as Mediterranean noir. Izzo died just five years later. He began -- new collection of essays – which sadly are undated – is a paean to the life, cities and food of the Mediterranean, particularly his home, Marseilles: "Wherever you are from, you feel at home in Marseilles." The world is full of beautiful cities, but Marseilles has an inner beauty: "her humanity". A former communist and the "son of an exile" (he had an Italian mother and a Spanish father), he writes passionately about the city's "hospitality, tolerance, respect for others". He writes with equal passion about the "poor man's cuisine": "When I eat, I like to feel Marseilles pulsating beneath my tongue." Writing crime fiction, says Izzo, is not a form of activism, but "a way of conveying my doubts, my anxieties, my joys, my pleasures". His essays, too, -- Close this popup Garlic, Mint, & Sweet Basil: Essays on Marseilles, Mediterranean Cuisine, and Noir Fiction by Jean-Claude Izzo – review This article was published on the Guardian website at 16.17 BST on -- Travel * Marseille · * France · * Europe * France Marseille's 'ghetto lycée' won't give up despite the problems its pupils face -- Jump to comments (…) Marseille France apartments A question of class … apartment blocks in Marseille. Photograph: Gerard Julien/Getty In 1957, when it was first built, the population was soaring so there was no time to lose thinking of new names: it was just known as the Lycée Nord. On the hills to the north of Marseille, tower blocks were popping up like mushrooms, as housing for industrial workers and their immigrant reinforcements. Subsequently renamed after the writer -- of the school year, coinciding with a party for the top year. Several young women were inflating balloons. "It's nice here," they exclaim, with the characteristic Marseille twang. The college seems like an oasis of tranquillity, surrounded by "problem" estates. Just up the road the tower blocks of Consolat-Mirabeau are the source of regular -- Close this popup Marseille's 'ghetto lycée' won't give up despite the problems its pupils face This article was published on the Guardian website at 14.01 BST on #publisher World news RSS feed France RSS feed Europe RSS feed Drugs trade RSS feed Travel RSS feed Marseille RSS feed Dispatch RSS feed Turn autoplay off -- Previous | Next | Index Marseille's battle between culture and crime The city is spending millions on its stint as Europe's culture capital -- Jump to comments (…) Fish market in Marseille The fish market in the Old Port of Marseille Photograph: Alamy In the old port of Massalia, where the Greeks arrived 2,600 years ago, -- watches. In the neighbouring quartier, prostitutes and drug dealers duck and dive to avoid the police patrols. These are the two faces of modern Marseille: the cosmopolitan, cultured pearl of the Mediterranean on the one hand; Rio-sur-Mer, as certain papers have nicknamed it, a lawless badland full of gangsters who could hold their own in the most -- With the city preparing for its year in the international limelight as European culture capital in 2013, there is a battle for Marseille's soul that will determine its reputation and future. No one in Marseille denies it has a huge problem with crime. Drugs, gambling and prostitution – and, more recently, corruption – have dominated the -- "It is a caricature, and unfair stigmatisation," he says, his voice rising. "If I said everything was rosy in Marseille I would be lying. But insisting everything is black, that is a lie too. Yes, there is poverty and delinquency and corruption, but to say things are black, black, black is utterly false." Moraine believes the culture year is a chance for Marseille to put its troubled past behind it and drag itself into the 21st century. Foreigners and native French always muddled along in a city that was home to writers, poets and artists, including -- to 20 drug-related assassinations in nine months. David Oliver Reverdy, of the Marseille branch of the Alliance police union, blames it on territorial disputes between drug barons and a proliferation of weapons, namely Kalashnikovs, the weapon of choice for -- says, to more police officers patrolling the city. Just down from Marseille's magnificent St Charles station, built in 1848, Sami, as he calls himself, is with a group of youngsters kicking their heels in the shadow of decrepit stone buildings hung with drying -- school? He shrugs. "Why?" he says before loping off. Said, a youth worker, says young Marseillais find it more lucrative to peddle drugs than go to classes. "A lot of the youngsters we're working with live in poverty and haven't been to school for years. We try to -- Jean-François Chougnet, director of the 2013 culture year organisers, said he hoped it would help Marseille to metamorphose. But Benoît Gilles, a reporter with La Marseillaise, a daily newspaper founded in 1943 by members of the communist resistance, said 2013 risked further excluding the already excluded. "Organising a free street event or a spectacle in a rundown area is not going to make people feel included. The situation in Marseille is complicated. It cannot be denied that delinquency and crime are high here, but building museums and organising cultural events is not going to be a magic wand that is -- tourists. She summed up the paradox that is Marseille. "It's a strange place," she said. "On the one hand it's undisciplined and very dangerous, so dangerous that sometimes I am afraid to go out. On the other, it's colourful, interesting and extraordinary. Marseille...it's like nowhere else in the world." • The following correction was published in the Observer on 4 December 2011: "A battle for the ancient port's divided soul" (Dispatch, Marseille) described Chicago as "the murder capital of America". According to FBI statistics from 2010, New Orleans tops the infamous league with a rate -- Close this popup Marseille's battle between culture and crime This article appeared on p2 of the Main section section of the Observer on Sunday 27 November 2011. It was published on the Guardian website at -- Travel * Marseille Series -- Travel * Marseille More news #publisher Travel RSS feed Marseille RSS feed Festivals RSS feed France RSS feed Europe RSS feed Art and design RSS feed Culture RSS feed Festivals RSS feed Museums RSS feed Music RSS feed French style special -- * Travel * Marseille Series: French style special -- Previous | Next | Index The hottest French city of 2013: Marseille There's never been a better time to visit Marseille. It's this year's European Capital of Culture and a new Eurostar service makes it easier than ever to get there -- l'Ombrière, Norman Foster's sleek, mirrored sunshade and events pavilion in Marseille's Vieux Port View larger picture l'Ombrière, Norman Foster's sleek, mirrored sunshade and events pavilion in Marseille's Vieux Port. Photograph: Boris Horvat/AFP This summer, Eurostar is running a Saturday service right across France -- Aix has a decent share of exhibitions and shows in the Provence-wide celebration of Marseille's status as this year's European Capital of Culture, but the real action is in the port city, 30 minutes away by train. Like Liverpool, Marseille has used its Capital of Culture status to launch a massive push for regeneration; and here, too, it seems to be working. The old port can now hold its own against any world city. -- spectacular. Of course, this being Marseille, a few questions have been asked about the €550m (£460m) that has been spent so far. The run-up to the festivities has generated some horrific stories of police corruption and gangland killings, while the construction work has thrown the city's already rather too exciting roads into yet more chaos. In other words (again like Liverpool), Marseille has retained its unique character throughout. This has always been one of the most invigorating, exciting and cosmopolitan cities in France. Add to that a -- Close this popup The hottest French city of 2013: Marseille This article appeared on p29 of the Weekend section of the Guardian on Saturday 25 May 2013. It was published on the Guardian website at 09.00 -- Travel * Marseille · * Festivals · * France · -- Travel * Marseille · * Festivals · * France · -- Readers’ tips * Marseille: Michelin Camping Guide France offers the very best and cheapest camping facilities in all of Europe. We know, we have been camping in Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Netherlands… Posted by grandthing 28 Apr 2013 * Marseille: Bar OM Football supporters' bar, but not as scary as that sounds! Friendly staff, good food, moderately priced drinks considering the position. We were made Posted by rosnapier 15 Mar 2013 * Marseille: Trying REAL bouillabaisse An authentic fish stew served with aioli - succulent pieces of fish served in a tasty broth with little pieces of crusty bread topped with a rich garlic… Posted by Jelee58 17 Apr 2012 * Marseille: A walk along the Calanques If you want to bask in the warm Mediterranean sea, but hate the crowds that fill much of France’s coastline, head to the vibrant, -- l'Ombrière, Norman Foster's sleek, mirrored sunshade and events pavilion in Marseille's Vieux Port Photograph: Boris Horvat/AFP * France Mediterranean civilisations museum feted as turning point for Marseille French city still notorious for gun crime and drug smuggling welcomes -- * Email * Angelique Chrisafis in Marseille * * theguardian.com, Monday 3 June 2013 18.45 BST -- Patrick Aventurier/Getty Images At the mouth of Marseille's old port, against the blue of the Mediterranean sits a mysterious dark cube draped in a giant concrete net – an audacious new architectural emblem for a port city desperate -- Paris. Mucem is not just the centrepiece of Marseille's 2013 stint as European capital of culture, which aims to attract 10 million visitors this year, despite the bad press over six gangland gun deaths and one fatal -- votes. Marseille won the capital of culture tag by arguing that the real cultural questions facing Europe today were "migration, racism, gender relations, religion, ecology". Mucem, which aims for 300,000 visitors a -- heals". The museum is built on Marseille's disused pier, where migrants often had their first glimpse of the city, and a rooftop walkway links it to the 17th-century Fort Saint-Jean, open to the public for the -- Ricciotti described his building full of dappled, fragmented light as a "vertical kasbah", an "architecture of resistance against imperialist mythology". He said it would restore calm to Marseille after the city had taken such a whipping in the national media in recent years. The architect said: "The whole world directs hatred at Marseille, it's like a kind of Quasimodo, it takes hit after hit and just smiles back, it doesn't understand the hatred so it just replies with an enigmatic -- Close this popup Mediterranean civilisations museum feted as turning point for Marseille This article was published on the Guardian website at 18.45 BST on Monday 3 June 2013. It was last modified at 00.00 BST on Tuesday 4 June * France Marseille gangland murders prompt French crisis talks Son of football boss becomes latest victim of violence in city with -- Jump to comments (…) Adrien Anigo murder in Marseille Police at the scene of Adrien Anigo's murder in Marseille. Photograph: Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA The French government will lead crisis talks on Saturday over a spate of gangland murders in Marseille, after the shooting of a football boss's son – the 15th gun death this year – sparked soul-searching over the Mediterranean city's inability to shed its image as the -- Adrien Anigo, 30, whose father, José Anigo, is sporting director of Olympique de Marseille, was shot dead in broad daylight on Thursday by two men on a motorbike while he was driving a rented Renault Twingo. -- Anigo's father grew up on a poor estate before becoming a player at Marseille, one of France's oldest and most popular clubs, and then sporting director. Anigo Sr, an imposing figure, has always denied having any mafia or crime links of his own. Two years ago, asked by the -- Hours before Anigo was killed, a 24-year-old man was gunned down at La Ciotat just outside Marseille after masked men on motorbikes tracked him arriving at his place of work. The government is under pressure to act on the violent crime that has blighted Marseille as it tries to shed its old image as a city of gangs, drug deals, corruption and political clientelism. The ongoing problems have cast a shadow over Marseille's stint as European capital of culture this year. While tourist numbers have risen sharply in the past six months, with the city aiming to attract 10 million visitors -- This year's death toll has not yet matched 2012's exceptionally high total of 24 gang killings in the Bouches-du-Rhone area including Marseille, but the methods have alarmed authorities. Increasingly, AK47s – reportedly available for €500 each – are being used to settle scores. Execution-style killings, once described by the state prosecutor as Marseille's "regrettable speciality", persist. The interior minister, Manuel Valls, has ordered together all political parties, saying: "I understand the anger of the Marseille people but we need time [to act] against drug-trafficking and daily delinquency." He called a truce on the left-right political slanging matches over who was to blame. The rightwing mayor of Marseille, Jean-Claude Gaudin, has denounced France's "Marseille-bashing". Last month the state sent 130 extra riot police and 24 investigators to Marseille. but many observers say the problem runs deeper. Although Marseille has recovered from the 1990s horror years of industrial decline, unemployment remains above the national average and more than 20% of residents live below the poverty line. Some estates have more -- Marie-Arlette Carlotti, a government minister competing in the Socialist primary race to choose a Marseille mayoral candidate next year, said the "real mafia networks" must be neutralised. "We have to find out where the money is, the white collars, because there are -- networks to their bank accounts in protected places." Marseille had hoped to move on from its long history of organised crime and murderous mobsters with names such as The Belgian, The Blond or The Tomcat. After the second world war, Marseille gangs known as the "French Connection" ran vast illegal laboratories processing heroin coming in from Turkey and the east. By the late 60s, about 80% of heroin in the US was trafficked from Marseille. In 1971, the figure of the Marseille drug baron was immortalised in the Hollywood film the French Connection. Marseille is no longer a heroin or drug-processing capital, but it remains at the centre of the trade in cannabis coming into Europe through Spain from Morocco. The city is also a key point in the cocaine -- Close this popup Marseille gangland murders prompt French crisis talks This article was published on the Guardian website at 17.34 BST on Friday 6 September 2013. It was last modified at 00.07 BST on Saturday All over for Tomcat and Gremlin as new breed of gangster takes hold in Marseille Port city back in headlines amid huge rise in feud killings and armed -- * Email * Angelique Chrisafis in Marseille * * The Guardian, Friday 13 February 2009 -- French criminal underworld. Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP On a narrow street behind Marseille's old port, where hostess bars nudge up against sandwich shops, Christine Imbert was redecorating her beauty salon, Starlet's. Business isn't easy when you're known as Marseille's foremost gangster's moll. "People judge you for your name," sighed the 38-year-old, proud to be -- Known as the Madman or the cat with nine lives, Jacky Imbert was once shot 23 times by hitmen but escaped. Despite the mix of drugs, gambling and prostitution that has dominated the Marseille mob scene for four decades, Imbert has sidestepped any serious convictions, serving only short prison terms. "The cops always came to ask me about the jobs I -- pictures of Jacky with his friend, the actor Alain Delon. Her designer hooded sweatshirts bearing the prison number of the "Legend of Marseille" is a way of honouring him. She feels that modern-day Marseille criminals are out of control and have lost all sense of respect. In Marseille's long history of organised crime, where murderous mobsters with names such as The Belgian and The Blond became folklore, it's perhaps not surprising that the underworld spawned its own -- Union. Cosmopolitan Marseille is fiercely proud that its housing estates did not erupt in the violent rioting of the Paris suburbs in 2005. Many felt it was because youth are fiercely proud of their Marseillais identity in a city that is not split into the ghettoes of racism of the Paris outskirts. But despite Marseille's ongoing transformation, its poor are struggling to stay afloat and gun-toting criminals are back in the headlines. Three young men were shot dead in a car waiting at traffic lights in northern Marseille two weeks ago. It was the biggest single death toll of a series of murders over drug feuds and turf wars. "Marseille has always had organised crime, but in the past month we've seen an acceleration, a much greater density of attacks and murders," said Jacques Dallest, the state prosecutor. He listed 70 gun attacks this year. The number of armed hold-ups of boulangeries, small grocers and tobacconists in Marseille is rising so fast that the government has stepped in with special measures. Across France, from Grenoble to Ajaccio, the number of feud murders by hitmen rose from 58 in 2007 to more than 120 last year. But Dallest said criminal execution-style killings remained Marseille's "regrettable speciality". On Tuesday night , "La Brise de Mer", the Corsican gang that has dominated the Marseille crime scene, saw one of its biggest godfathers murdered by a sniper. He was the second major godfather killed in Corsica in less than a month. On Marseille's northern housing estates, social workers say poverty has worsened the problem. More than 20% of the city's population live below the poverty line. Although Marseille has recovered from the 1990s horror years of industrial decline and acute unemployment, joblessness still exceeds the national average. Local politicians warn that some -- When Fadéla Amara, the minister responsible for overhauling France's estates, visited Marseille's high rises last week, she was assailed by residents complaining about run-down housing and the lack of hope for the young. "Where there is poverty and no prospects for young people, crime seems like an option, a way to climb the social ladder, and Marseille has always been a good university of crime," said the Marseille thriller writer Xavier-Marie Bonnot, who has made several films about the city's underworld. -- Drugs have long been central to gang crime in a city that boasts the biggest port in the western Mediterranean. After the second world war, Marseille gangs known as the "French Connection" ran vast illegal laboratories processing heroin coming in from Turkey and the east. By the late 60s, about 80% of heroin in the US was trafficked from Marseille. In 1971, the figure of the Marseille drug baron was immortalised in the Hollywood film the French Connection, and for a decade, the city's criminal gangs killed each other in vicious feuding. A drug trafficking trial last month showed that although Marseille is no longer a heroin or drug processing capital, it remains at the centre of the trade in cannabis coming into Europe through Spain from Morocco. -- Former champion trotting driver, aviator and nightclub supremo suspected by police of being a contract killer in the 1960s before becoming a key figure in Marseille's underworld in the 1970s. He was jailed in 2004 for a contraband cigarette scam involving the Russian mafia, but was later cleared on appeal. Describes himself as "retired". Francis Vanverberghe, alias the Belgian Notorious in the bloody battle for control of Marseille's "French connection" drug imports. Gunned down outside a betting shop on the Champs Elysée in Paris in 2000, near a bar where he was suspected of -- Farid Berrhama, alias the Gremlin, Grey or the Roaster A Marseille drugs kingpin suspected of at least a dozen gangland murders. He was shot down alongside a suspected henchman when a dozen armed men opened fire in a Marseille restaurant in 2006. Christian Oraison, alias the Big Blond -- Close this popup A new breed of gangster takes hold in Marseille This article appeared on p27 of the Main section section of the Guardian on Friday 13 February 2009. It was published on the Guardian * France 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 * Share -- 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. -- 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 -- 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 -- Close this popup 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 * France Crime-weary Marseille calls for Batman's help Tongue-in-cheek plea for a superhero's help after politicians suggest -- Jump to comments (…) An armed French policeman on duty in Marseille. An armed French policeman on duty in Marseille. Photograph: Boris Horvat/AFP -- barbarians. Today a similar struggle is being waged for the soul of France's second-largest city. While enjoying its status as the European capital of culture, Marseille is waging a war against modern barbarians: drug gangs. The city still has a way to go to rival neighbouring Corsica, and even the French overseas department of Guiana, as crime capital of France, but the 15 gangland killings in Marseille since the beginning of 2013 have created an atmosphere of rampant lawlessness in the Mediterranean port. -- huge golden figure that dominates the city skyline, is clearly not doing her job as guardian and protector, frustrated local people are calling for "a Batman to save Marseille". The group of young Marseillais evoking the caped crusader has collected hundreds of signatures for a petition mocking the apparent impotence of both local and national authorities to tackle crime in the city. -- and better proposals, none of them any more credible than expecting Batman to swoop down and solve the city's problems in a day," Jaussaud said. "We have to stop the stigmatisation of Marseille. Of course the murders are worrying and the city has a crime problem, but it's not going to be solved by more and more outrageous press statements." Part of the Batman campaign is to combat what the collective sees as the bad press Marseille is getting. "Crime in Marseille is not significantly worse than anywhere else in France," Jaussaud said. "Nor are we all gangsters walking around with Kalashnikovs, which is the -- incivility". In the 1960s and early 70s, Marseille was the hub of the wa well-organised drug network controlled by Corsicans, through which heroin was smuggled from Turkey to France and on to the US. Today most -- where unemployment is high. The Collectif des Quartiers Populaires de Marseille et Environs (association for the working-class areas of Marseille and around) says inequality and discrimination have created a climate of violence in the housing estates. -- existence," it said. David-Olivier Reverdy, of the Marseille police union Alliance, told the Observer that, if François Hollande's government had money to spend on sending in the military or buying expensive drones, it would be better spent on more local police. "We've had enough of Marseille being compared to Kabul or Damascus. This kind of talk is exaggerated. Rather than employ military methods, we would be better off having permanent police on the ground," Reverdy -- tough and firm, the government is not acting tough and firm. We need firm acts, not just firm words. We were told that crime and security in Marseille was a priority and we would be given the means to combat them, but this hasn't happened." Marseille has undergone a renaissance as part of its designation as Europe's culture capital, with a £552m programme that has seen refurbished docks, new and renovated museums and public buildings, and -- headlines and added grist to the far-right Front National mill. The FN has profited from squabbling between the nationally ruling Socialists and the opposition UMP party, which controls Marseille city hall, and their failure to end the violence, gaining support in the runup to next year's municipal elections. The FN leader, Marine Le Pen, told supporters in the city this month: "Marseille is not the exception – it's the shape of things to come. The gangrene of crime is spreading through France." The deleterious atmosphere was exacerbated on Friday when the regional Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur authority's accounts department released a scathing report on the running of Marseille. It criticised the city's mounting debt, currently at £1.5bn and expected to rise by £86m in 2014, and the working hours of public employees, found to be below the -- Jaussaud said that, apart from trying to address the crime problem and the unfair stigmatisation of Marseille, the Batman campaign aimed to wrest back a sense of local pride. "We have this wonderful culture, we have dynamic businesses, we have magnificent public buildings, but all anyone wants to talk about is crime," he said. "This is the paradox of Marseille." Daily Email close -- Close this popup Crime-weary Marseille calls for Batman's help This article appeared on p30 of the Main section section of the Observer on Sunday 29 September 2013. It was published on the Guardian #publisher Art and design RSS feed Le Corbusier RSS feed Design RSS feed Art RSS feed Travel RSS feed Marseille RSS feed World news RSS feed France RSS feed Culture RSS feed Heritage RSS feed Architecture and design blog RSS feed -- Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse rooftop gym transformed into art space French designer Ora-Ã�to is converting the famous Marseille roof terrace into a haven for contemporary art * Share -- rooftop of Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse Park in the sky … the rooftop of Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse in Marseille. Photograph: Mamo "Welcome to my place," says Ito Morabito, perched on the balustrade of the most famous rooftop of any 20th-century building. Behind the young French designer, concrete forms gleam in the midday Marseille sun: a great ventilation stack flares out like a sculptural vase; a paddling pool nestles beneath a classroom on stilts; children clamber on a -- air. And now it has a new owner, with big ambitions. "This will be the reason people come to Marseille," says Morabito, who has never been one to shy away from big claims. Now 35, he was catapulted to fame 10 years ago when he designed a series of fake -- "As soon as I heard it was on the market, I jumped on a train," says Morabito, who was born in Marseille, the son of jeweller Pascal Morabito, but now runs his studio from Paris. "I grew up knowing this building, so I couldn't resist that chance to own such an important -- gym into an arts space, cafe and artists' residences, which will host a site-specific installation for four months over the summer each year. The project is christened Mamo – the "Marseille Modulor" – in a riff on Le Corbusier's system of measurement, and a cheeky inversion of New York's MoMA, which seems appropriate given how Ora-Ã�to made his -- workshops with architecture schools. Set to open in June as part of Marseille's 2013 Capital of Culture extravaganza, only time will tell whether the residents of the Cité Radieuse will find a contemporary arts space more useful than a gym, or -- Travel * Marseille World news -- Travel * Marseille World news -- More blogposts * More on Marseille * A shiny shade structure for Marseille by Foster and Partners Marseille's moment As European Capital of Culture, Marseille is shaking off its seedy image, says Vanessa Thorpe, with a year of extraordinary arts events and a series of breathtaking architectural projects * Marseille's £6bn Capital of Culture rebirth * An art and shopping tour of Marseille * Marseille * Next * France Marseille's Cité Radieuse damaged by fire Authorities assess damage to architect Le Corbusier's Radiant City, a -- FRANCE-FIRE-CORBUSIER-HERITAGE Frefighters tackle a blaze in three flats at Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse in Marseille. Photograph: Bruno Planchais/AFP/Getty Images One of France's most important landmarks of modernist architecture, La Cité Radieuse housing estate in Marseille, built by the architect Le Corbusier, has been damaged by fire. -- Close this popup Marseille's Cité Radieuse damaged by fire This article was published on the Guardian website at 10.41 GMT on Friday 10 February 2012. It was last modified at 20.30 BST on Saturday course and hotel, it will be a World of Adventures with vines. So we went on to Marseille, the 2013 European Capital of Culture, to see the new MuCEM (the politically correct and wearyingly inclusive Museum of the Civilisation of Europe and the Mediterranean), perhaps -- the Toulouse riots of 2005 began in a banlieue designed by pupils of Le Corbusier. Fact: they don’t have riots in Le Panier, the crumbly dense old quarter of Marseille. I reflected on this as we left the city to meet friends for lunch in Peter Mayle country near Ménerbes. Marseille is a difficult place not, I think, at ease with itself. Sweaty and desolate in turns, sullen and grumbly, despite the City of Culture wash ’n’ brush-up. -- Suggested Topics * Styles And Clothes * Marseille * Architects * France Arts + Ents > Art > Features European Capital of Culture: A capital experience in Marseille [marseille-getty.jpg] [marseille-getty.jpg] Cultural calendar steams ahead after innumerable delays -- Email After a sluggish start and innumerable delays, Marseille's year as European Capital of Culture is steaming ahead. The year was nearly halfway over before some of the flagship projects finally opened. Two -- the first national museum outside Paris. Permanent exhibitions showcase the history of the peoples of the Mediterranean – fittingly so, as most of these races have been absorbed into Marseille's multi-ethnic population over the centuries since the city was founded 2,500 years ago. Even its architect, Rudy Ricciotti, personifies the mish-mash that is Marseille: he's French, of Italian origin and born in Algeria. The latticework covering parts of the building screens a walkway around -- a decent grasp of the language. Even with delays and ubiquitous construction cranes, Marseille could end up doing a London Olympics and surpassing everyone's expectations. That's already evident in the Vieux Port, where traffic has been tamed -- 6m above the ground at the water's edge, instantly captivates as people can't help but stare up and marvel at a world turned upside down. Which is exactly what the city of Marseille needed. www.mp2013.fr Suggested Topics * Marseille * Architects * France News > World > Europe Marseille: Europe's most dangerous place to be young [Pg-28-marseille-afp.jpg] [Pg-28-marseille-afp.jpg] Away from its glamorous tourist centre, 15 men have died this year as -- Email To understand Marseille catch a bus – bus number 30 from the Bougainville metro station. The route starts at the northern terminus of the metro system, five kilometres from the city centre. It winds -- The bus passes through the poorest districts of the poorest city in France. Almost 40 per cent of people who live here are below the poverty line, compared to 26 per cent in Marseille as a whole and 15 per cent nationally. In the richer, mostly white, areas south of the city centre, the risk of dying before the age of 65 is 23 per cent below the national average. In north Marseille, it is 30 per cent higher than the French average. If you are a teenage boy or young man from northern Marseille, you risk dying long before the age of 65. Fifteen young men, mostly from the city's northern districts, have been shot dead this year as part of a -- In fact, there have been almost as many killings of young men in the first nine months of 2012 as in the whole of last year. Proportionally, Marseille (population 800,000), now has almost as many drug-related murders as New York (population 8,000,000). Eyeing the issues, the French government has announced emergency action this month to stop the -- Earlier this month, Samia Ghali, the mayor of the 15th and 16th arrondissements of Marseille, which embrace most of the poor northern districts, detonated a verbal bombshell. She said that the drug-related violence in northern Marseille had become so extreme that only the army could defeat it. She called on the government to deploy troops to confiscate the cheap automatic weapons flowing in from the Balkans and -- conducted with impunity. Ms Ghali, a child of northern Marseilles like Zinedine Zidane and Eric Cantona, admits that her proposal was mostly a "cry of alarm". "I was born and grew up here. I know what I'm talking about," she said. "I can -- the massacre." Ms Ghali, a Socialist, berates the attitude of some politicians and commentators – including the centre-right mayor of Marseille Jean-Claude Gaudin - who dismiss the murders as "règlements de compte" ("tit-for-tat killings" or "a turf war"). "By using that kind of language, you're saying that these murders – and murder is the right word – are separate from polite society or the law," she said. "You are saying, 'let them kill each other'." Back in the busy, friendly centre of Marseille – a different planet from Bougainville and La Savine – I met Laurent Gaudon, a lawyer who has represented families of the victims. He also disputes the phrase "turf war". "Often -- last year a boy of 17 was shot because he had been disrespectful to another young man. The killer wanted to prove that he was tough enough to be in a drug gang." Marseille has always had gangland killings, Mr Gaudon said. "This is the city of the French Connection. All the organised crime of the Mediterranean basin passes through here – -- local and national politicians of Left and Right. It was, all the same, hugely successful. Within days, the government had drawn up an action plan to "rescue Marseille". The interior minister, Manuel Valls, and justice minister, Christiane Taubira, were in the city last week to set up a new "priority security zone" in the northern districts. There are -- Mr Ayrault this week appointed another Prefect with the Herculean brief to dissolve local political jealousies and create a single, political and economic agglomeration, reconnecting Marseille with its rich satellite towns. He might begin by trying to dissolve the boundary between first and third worlds which begins at Bougainville metro -- Drug war in numbers 26: Percentage of people in Marseille who live below the poverty line, against 15 per cent nationally. -- city's drug wars. 300: The number of Kalashnikovs reportedly intercepted in Marseille this year. News * Print Marseille battles image as France's murder capital By Tom Esslemont BBC News, Marseille Pictures on a school wall in Marseille, France Schools in the deprived north of the city have reduced the drop-out rate Continue reading the main story -- * France country profile France's second city, Marseille, has become synonymous with drug-related violence in recent years but local politicians are fighting to change that image. -- According to police figures, a third of all the murders in France in 2012 took place in the Marseille region. Blocks of flats in Marseille Much of the violence occurs in the poor northern suburbs Children in a built-up area of Marseille Parents say young children are vulnerable to the drug gangs A view of the Tour St Jean in Marseille The city fathers want to project a new image of Marseille as a city of culture Victims are usually in their late teens and twenties. Many of them are -- In the early 1960s, as the war for Algeria's independence ended, hundreds of thousands of French people returned from former colonies in North Africa. Many settled in Marseille where new high-rises were built to accommodate them. -- "The city's geography has a lot to do with its problems," says sociologist Laurent Mucchielli at the University of Aix-Marseille, referring not only to the seaside location, but to social segregation between a poorer north and a richer south. -- they have access to a cultural education." In the run-up to mayoral elections in Marseille next year, opposition parties have taken on the centre-right municipality on issues of social deprivation. -- Were the anti-immigrant FN to capitalise on the problem in a multi-ethnic city like Marseille it would worry the governing left and the centre-right UMP, which controls the city mayoralty. Jobs drive -- My political vision is for everyone to live together as a community” End Quote Jean-Claude Gaudin Mayor of Marseille But the city's UMP mayor, Jean-Claude Gaudin, denies his municipality -- Outside his grand office by the port, new museums and galleries have opened up - all part of Marseille's year as the European Capital of Culture. -- From her apartment, where pictures of Nabil hang on the wall, you can just make out the sound of the trains heading to and from the beating heart of Marseille. More on This Story * 5 Scottish independence: Boris Johnson “F UK” warning City guide: Marseille, France The The "Vieux-Port" of Marseille. Picture: Getty * by JANET CHRISTIE -- Print this THE capital of Provence, Marseille may share a Riviera location with Nice, St Tropez, Cannes and Monte Carlo, but it’s a city devoid of its neighbours’ glitz. -- galleries, concert halls and eateries springing up in the old port area. Thanks to a maritime past dating from Greek and Roman times, Marseille is a melting pot of cultures and races (a quarter of its population of one million is of North African origin) and it has some of the best restaurants in the country. With hills on three sides and -- PASTIS is a regional obsession so indulge yourself in the heady concoction of liquorice, star anise, peppercorns, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and sage at Mama Shelter Marseille, sister of the Philippe Starck-designed hotel in Paris. For a selection of over 100 varieties, check out La Maison du Pastis or just dip into any supermarket – you’ll be spoiled for choice. Mama Shelter, 62 Rue de La Loubière (www.mamashelter.com/marseille); La Maison du Pastis, 108 Quai du Port (www.lamaisondupastis.com) -- DIP into one of local hero writer and film-maker Marcel Pagnol’s classics while sitting on a bar stool at the Bar de la Marine, which makes an appearance in his tales of early 20th-century Marseille and its people. His celebration of the peasant life of the hilly villages of Provence where he holidayed have made him one of France’s best-loved -- was once a poorhouse, and now has extensive galleries on three levels surrounding the courtyard. At Interface, a former granary, there’s contemporary art and edgy installations, as Marseille seeks to reinvent itself as a city of culture and shake off the air of neglect that settled after the partial closure of the port. Centre de la Vieille Charité, 2 rue de la Charité (00 33 4 91 56 28 38, www.vieille-charite-marseille.org) BEST BOAT TRIP -- and maritime national park in Europe, on a solar-powered boat. Prices vary (www.marseille-tourisme.com) DIRECT flights from Edinburgh and Glasgow are offered by Ryanair, British Airways and Air France, starting from around £200. A City Pass Marseille offers one day (€22) or two days (€29) of open access for visits, transport and special deals, access to 12 museums, guided tours and visits to the If Islands or Frioul, plus access on the entire bus, Explore real-time news, visually Marseille, France, hit by rising drug-related violence JEAN-PAUL PELISSIER/Reuters - French policemen check the identity papers with a resident during a control operation in apartment housing buildings at Air-Bel in Marseille, on March 15, 2013. By Edward Cody, E-mail the writer MARSEILLE, France — This was supposed to be the year for Marseille. The gritty Mediterranean port, France’s second-largest city, was -- turns deadly during Argentine police strike. But despite the cultural renaissance — not to mention Marseille’s famed fish soup — all people here are talking about is murder and drug trafficking. In the past two weeks, five killings have been recorded -- the city’s infamous high-rise slums. The eruption has refocused attention on Marseille’s long-standing reputation as a European drug-smuggling hub, a place where entire neighborhoods have slipped away from police control and fallen under -- African hashish and settle turf disputes with AK-47 assault rifles. “Marseille is sick with its violence,” Interior Minister Manuel Valls said. -- suburbs, inhabited mainly by North African immigrants, where youth unemployment is double the national average of 10 percent. But he said ending drug violence in Marseille is mainly up to the Socialist-run government in Paris headed by President Francois Hollande. -- depends essentially on the government,” Gaudin said in a Q&A with the newspaper Le Figaro. “I would like the government to fully realize that Marseille needs to be helped.” Gaudin’s statement underlined the political quotient in Marseille’s violence. The city, along with others across France, has scheduled municipal elections next year. A particularly important prize with 850,000 residents, Marseille has become the target of several potential Socialist and UMP candidates. #publisher Football RSS feed David Beckham RSS feed Paris Saint-Germain RSS feed Marseille RSS feed Sport RSS feed Turn autoplay off -- Coupe de France last 16 David Beckham plays his part as PSG beat Marseille in French Cup • Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 Marseille • Ibrahimovic 34 64pen * Share -- rattled, when Jordan Ayew ploughed into French football's latest star attraction and finally left him rattled. David Beckham picked himself out of the tangle of bodies on the byline and eye-balled the Marseille substitute as players, Joey Barton principal among them, squared up all around. The flash of yellow shown to the victim of the lunge felt harsh -- United, Real Madrid and Milan demonstrated in his positioning, movement and delivery. It had been his pass that opened up the left side of Marseille's defence for Kévin Gameiro to chase and cross for Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the quarter-hour mark, the Swede fluffing the first clear opportunity of the evening. It was also Le Spice Boy's quickly -- the sides, a 16-minute appearance that had whetted the appetite. He had played a part in setting up Ibrahimovic's goal in stoppage time that night with Marseille having, rather mystifyingly, stood off the debutant and allowed him to exert his influence. The same criticism of Elie Baup's side might have been made here. Surely the temptation must -- PSG's next two Champions League games following his dismissal in the last-16 tie at Valencia, added the second-half penalty to seal the victory before Marseille's frustrations overcame them. Romao leapt into an illegal challenge on Beckham, Barton caught him -- "It was spiky the whole game," added Beckham. "It was like that at the weekend and it will be like that every PSG against Marseille game. Joey caught me with an elbow, but he 'explained' it just after. He does well for them and is a talented player. Good luck to him." That was said -- Close this popup PSG 2-0 Marseille | French Cup match report This article was published on the Guardian website at 21.55 GMT on Wednesday 27 February 2013. A version appeared on p44 of the Main -- * David Beckham · * Paris Saint-Germain · * Marseille Sport #publisher Football RSS feed QPR RSS feed Marseille RSS feed Sport RSS feed -- * QPR QPR's Djibril Cissé relishes chance of move back to Marseille • French striker says playing in Championship 'complicated' -- Djibril Cisse of QPR Djibril Cissé of Queens Park Rangers is keen on a return move to Marseille. Photograph: Chris Brunskill/Getty Images Djibril Cissé is eyeing a move back to Marseille after admitting playing in the Championship with Queens Park Rangers appears "complicated". -- from a sporting viewpoint, (a return to QPR) does seem complicated." Cissé would relish a switch to Marseille, a club he joined on loan from Liverpool in 2006 before making the move permanent. "It would be a dream to go back," said Cissé, "or play for any club which can make me -- Close this popup QPR's Djibril Cissé relishes chance of move back to Marseille This article was published on the Guardian website at 10.44 BST on Tuesday 30 April 2013. -- * QPR · * Marseille Sport #publisher Football RSS feed Arsenal RSS feed Arsène Wenger RSS feed Marseille RSS feed Champions League RSS feed Sport RSS feed Turn autoplay off -- * Arsenal Arsenal in confident mood for Marseille mission despite several injuries • Olivier Giroud declares himself fit for Gunners -- * Email * Stuart James in Marseille * * The Guardian, Tuesday 17 September 2013 20.56 BST -- [Arsenals-Ars-ne-Wenger-wa-012.jpg] [javascript] Link to video: Arsenal's Arsène Wenger wary of Marseille's Champions League home advantage -- Olivier Giroud, who has given Arsenal a major boost by declaring himself fit to start against Marseille on Wednesday night, admitted he is "a bit scared" about the paucity of Wenger's options and predicted problems ahead. Although Wenger can name a strong starting XI against -- we can to rival the big clubs." Wenger admitted he harbours his own worries. "For Marseille, all the players who had little doubts are OK. But I am concerned because we play now for two months every three or four days and it's important to -- Stade Vélodrome, which resembles a building site with major work going on to redevelop the ground before the 2016 European Championships, would be a good place to make it 10 straight away wins. Marseille are no pushovers – they are fourth in Ligue 1 and have five France internationals in their squad – but in a so-called group of death -- Close this popup Arsenal in confident mood for Marseille mission despite several injuries This article was published on the Guardian website at 20.56 BST on -- * Arsenal · * Arsène Wenger · * Marseille · * Champions League #publisher Football RSS feed Joey Barton RSS feed Marseille RSS feed QPR RSS feed Sport RSS feed -- * Joey Barton Joey Barton's contract claims denied by Marseille's president • French club's president would like to keep player, however -- * theguardian.com, Wednesday 10 April 2013 12.37 BST Joey Barton in action for Marseille Joey Barton in action for Marseille. Photograph: Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA Joey Barton's claims that a deal is in place for him to stay at Marseille have been denied by the club's president, Vincent Labrune. Barton, currently on loan at the French club from relegation-threatened -- Can't see QPR wanting me on the wage bill in the Champ." Barton said that Marseille are now in his blood and Labrune confirmed the club would be interested in keeping the midfielder but added that nothing is in place. Labrune was quoted on eurosport.fr as saying: "We -- decide where they play. They are under CONTRACT," Fernandes wrote. Barton joined Marseille in August while he was serving a 12-match ban incurred during the last game of the 2011-12 season against Manchester City. -- Over a series of tweets, Barton expressed his hope that QPR stay up, made a pointed jibe at former manager Mark Hughes and confirmed his commitment to Marseille. He wrote: "My QPR career was over when they decided to listen to the footballing sage, Mark of Hughes … I'm loving life in France. Loving Marseille. They love me. "All I want to do is give everything for this football club. They -- "I really hope they [QPR] stay up. I have all season. Stay up/go down. Harry stays/goes. I don't want to be part of it. Marseille is my home now." Daily Email -- Close this popup Joey Barton's contract claims denied by Marseille's president This article was published on the Guardian website at 12.37 BST on Wednesday 10 April 2013. It was last modified at 14.32 BST on Wednesday -- * Joey Barton · * Marseille · * QPR #publisher Football RSS feed Marseille RSS feed World news RSS feed France RSS feed Europe RSS feed -- * Sport * Football * Marseille Olympic Marseille struggle to attract top talent due to 'home-jacking' Vitorino Hilton and Lucho González among Marseille players to suffer armed robberies at their homes * Share -- lucho gonzalez Olympic Marseille's Lucho Gonzalez, right, seen training here with Pape Douada M'Bow, is among the victims of a spate of violent robberies of players at the club. Photograph: Bertrand Langlois/AFP/Getty Images Marseille's efforts to shed its reputation as a crime capital have been dealt a blow with a warning from the city's football team that a spate of violent robberies of star players is making it difficult to attract top talent to the club. The homes of players for Olympic Marseille, the Ligue 1 team and former French champions, have become a regular target for armed robberies, known as "home-jackings". This week the Brazilian defender Vitorino Hilton was at his gated Marseille home with 10 family members when an armed gang of six broke in just before midnight. They held the footballer's relatives hostage before hitting Hilton on the head with the butt of a gun several times -- attacked him and his family at home in Aix-en-Provence in March. After 10 attacks on players in 18 months Olympic Marseille announced it had set up private security patrols around players' homes in the city and surrounding area, and called on local authorities to crack down on crime. Marseille will be European capital of culture in 2013 and is undergoing major architectural and cultural renovations. But Olympic Marseille's sporting director, José Anigo, said he was struggling to attract new star players because of the city's reputation. -- "Every time I signed a player this year the first questions they asked were 'can you guarantee security?' and 'are my family at risk?'" he told a press conference. "Bringing players to Marseille in those conditions is complicated. You have to be a magician." -- Close this popup Olympic Marseille struggle to attract top talent due to 'home-jacking' This article was published on the Guardian website at 15.08 BST on Thursday 14 July 2011. A version appeared on p21 of the Main section -- Football * Marseille World news #publisher Football RSS feed Joey Barton RSS feed QPR RSS feed Marseille RSS feed Sport RSS feed Turn autoplay off -- * Joey Barton Joey Barton may be heading back to QPR after Marseille wages impasse • Midfielder wants to make loan to French club permanent • QPR want him to move, Marseille cannot afford wages * Share * Tweet this -- Jérémy Menez Joey Barton David Beckham Joey Barton, centre, collides with Paris Saint-Germain's Jérémy Menez, left, and David Beckham during his loan spell with Marseille. Photograph: Michel Euler/AP Joey Barton may yet have to return to Queens Park Rangers in the Championship next season because an agreement is apparently still no closer between Marseille and the relegated London club to make his loan move permanent. -- parent club slipped out of the Premier League. However, Marseille have indicated they would be unable to take on Barton's wages of around £65,000 a week and would need him to halve those salary demands for any deal to be reached. -- Barton, who is in Northern Ireland studying for his Uefa A licence as a coach, is under contract at Loftus Road until 2015. He confirmed last week that, if no deal is reached with Marseille this summer, he could return to France when his current contract expires, when he will be 32. Daily Email -- Close this popup Joey Barton may be heading back to QPR after Marseille wages impasse This article was published on the Guardian website at 17.13 BST on Tuesday 11 June 2013. It was last modified at 17.41 BST on Tuesday 11 -- * Joey Barton · * QPR · * Marseille Sport