The Marseille mothers demanding 'anti-mafia laws' to save their families
Malika looked out of her window on the tenth floor of a run-down tower-block in northern Marseille across at the Mediterranean Sea. “There are good things about living here, despite the bad reputation,” said the 43-year-old mother of four. “When I was down, when I had no food, my neighbours always helped. We’re one big family here.”
On a nearby estate, visible from the window, a 29-year-old was recently shot dead with a Kalashnikov machine-gun in a criminal turf-war. It was the tenth criminal gang death in the Marseille area this year. Military weapons are sometimes fired in broad daylight and can sell for as little as €500.
But at a table under the bird cages on Malika’s balcony, a group of local women are planning a “revolution” in France’s second city. Hundreds of women from the to plough back the millions of euros confiscated each year from organised crime across the country into small local associations on impoverished housing estates.
