“These shootings are not taking place in South America, they are taking place in Rennes, in Poitiers, in this part of western France that was once known for its peace,” Reteillo told BFMTV.
“We are at a tipping point, and the choice we have today is between a general mobilization or a Mexicanization of the country,” he said, alluding to Mexico’s widespread problems with street crime and violence perpetrated by drug cartels.
The mayor of Poitiers called it “a new episode of violence unacceptable for the neighborhood.”
Police sources said that shots were fired from a passing car, injuring several youths.
Two 16-year-olds were treated for minor injuries.
Pictures from the scene in Coimbra Square, an area of the city known for drug-related crime, show the facade of the restaurant riddled with bullets.
The shooting sparked a fight between rival gangs in the area, police said.
“Tensions broke out between the groups, which required the intervention of the police and gendarmerie,” the Vienna police said in a statement.
Retailo said between 400 and 600 people were at the scene, although it was unclear how many were directly involved.
He was due to visit Rennes, the capital of Brittany, on Friday after a shooting on October 26 in which a five-year-old boy was shot in the head in a car. Authorities have confirmed that the shooting was also drug-related.
The drug trade in France has long been considered to be centered in the southern port city of Marseille, where at least 17 drug-related murders reported since the beginning of the year.
But researchers say that the influence of the drug trade in France in recent years spread beyond the main centers of Marseille and Paris, external to medium-sized cities and even rural areas.
