On March 4th, the students of the Georges Bruguier School in Nîmes flock to the green gate again, slightly more numerous than the previous week. From now on they have to pass the city police officers, a new security cordon that was set up ten days earlier, before entering the large abandoned courtyard. A good half of the children are still missing. While classes have resumed in the Gard since February 26, many families from Chemin-Bas-d’Avignon no longer dare to leave their children at school in this sensitive district, which has been under siege by drug trafficking for several years.

On February 8th, a double shooting occurred in the middle of the afternoon on the street next to the restaurant when a class was returning by bus from a school trip and the kindergarten children were on break. On February 20, a 39-year-old man, known to police, died when he was shot dead in front of his 8-year-old son at a deal point. Nervous and unnerved, most of the teaching team did not return to school after the winter holidays. Fourteen of the sixteen teachers were on leave until at least March 8th due to an accident at work.

Parents no longer want to experience this daily ordeal of having to bring their children to the gates of Georges-Bruguier. “We can’t take it anymore testified a group of mothers on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. The filming takes place in broad daylight and it has almost become a habit. We could be hit by a stray bullet at any time. » Fazia, a grandmother, continues: “The other day a bullet hit the headrest on the passenger side of a mother’s car with children inside. It’s not worth living! »

The feeling of impending danger

The white facades of this group of schools, which look like an administration building from the 1960s, built in a U-shape and with a large courtyard in the middle, appear gloomy. The three-meter-high burglary protection fence, which was erected around the bar in 2021 to prevent drug dealers from entering, creates a constant feeling of impending danger in young and old. As if there was no room for negligence anymore.

Nadia, 38, a student of Bruguier in the 1980s, now a mother, is sad: “When I was little, these fences weren’t that high. It looks like a prison now. The mothers chatted on the sidewalk, playing and laughing. I’ve never heard the “Arah” before [le signal entre guetteurs pour prévenir de l’arrivée des policiers dans le quartier] in class, even if my children are used to it. My 8 year old son, who heard the shooting, has nightmares every night. »

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