Macron admits defeat in fight on drugs as gang open fire on police

FRANCE has “lost the fight against drug trafficking” in many suburbs, warned President Emmanuel Macron as images of masked gunmen opening fire in Marseille and a brutal daylight murder highlighted the uphill task he faces.

Amateur footage of police clashing with Kalashnikov-wielding gangsters in the southern port city came as Mr Macron unveiled new measures for the country’s most deprived districts, many in “banlieues” or suburbs ringing major cities with high unemployment and immigrant populations.

Officials in some of these say they are at a loss at how to tackle poverty, drug running and Islamic fundamentalism, with some mayors resigning in recent months, saying their job had become too tough.

In a much-awaited speech Mr Macron expressed “deep concern” about events in Marseille, where masked men in black armed with assault rifles were filmed opening fire on Monday.

In another shocking incident, police in the city of Pau are investigating the murder of a 32-year-old who was beaten to death by a gang of teenagers.

Terrified witnesses, some picnicking with children, have helped identify three suspects thought to have taken part in what ‘Le Parisien’ newspaper called a “horrifying lynching”.

France, Mr Macron admitted, had “lost the battle against drug dealing in many housing estates”, pledging to finalise a plan to tackle the crisis by July. (© Daily Telegraph, London)