The mayor of Toulon, Hubert Falco, has asked for police reinforcements after a “worrying outbreak of violence” in his city, France’s Var-Matin reports.

Falco asked France’s Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior for police backup after an escalating number of gang related shootings.

“At the moment, the police are depleted, but a public presence at night can be a deterrent. Of course we are worried about what has been happening at night in our cities for weeks. It happens in the cities, we listen to the people who live there, but we are not decision makers: Toulon must be helped,” the mayor says.

The most recent incident occurred last night. Two individuals on a scooter made a “round trip” in the La Beaucaire suburb, where they undertook several drive-by shootings, police sources said on Tuesday.

Departmental security was seized to shed light on this new episode. Shooting incidents are now common in cities like Toulon, against a backdrop of rivalries for the control of drug trafficking.

“I am not politicising the issue, which is too serious to do so, but the Minister of the Interior did not visit Toulon during his recent visit, yet we have the same problems as Marseille and Nice.”

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