"Thousands of people gathered in Marseille on Saturday to honour the brother of an anti-drug activist murdered in France's second largest city whose death sparked nationwide calls to confront drug crime. Demonstrators chanted "Justice for Mehdi" before observing a minute of silence at the roundabout where the 20-year-old Mehdi Kessaci was shot dead by a gunman in his parked car on November 13."
"Investigations are ongoing but authorities consider the murder to be a "warning crime" linked to the anti-drug activism of his brother Amine Kessaci, 22, who was welcomed by cheers as he joined the crowd on Saturday. Amine Kessaci is now living under police protection and the gathering was marked by heavy police presence in the southern port city hard hit by drug crime."
""For years we have been raising the alarm, we have been speaking out because we know that silence kills. Each retreat by the institutions has facilitated the advance of drug trafficking," he said on Saturday via a recorded message played to the crowd. Marseille has been struggling to battle drug crime, with more than a dozen people killed since the start of the year in turf wars and other disputes linked to cocaine and cannabis dealing."
Thousands of people gathered in Marseille to honour Mehdi Kessaci, who was shot dead in his parked car on November 13. Demonstrators chanted for justice and observed a minute of silence at the roundabout where the killing occurred. Authorities consider the murder a "warning crime" linked to the anti-drug activism of his brother Amine Kessaci, who joined the crowd under police protection. Amine has campaigned after losing two half-brothers to drug-related killings and demanded justice and safety for families. Marseille has seen more than a dozen killings this year in turf wars tied to cocaine and cannabis trafficking.
Read at The Local France
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