“The media simplify”, he said. “The repeated shootings here in Molenbeek are not systematically all drug-related. There are other reasons. For example, the one last month in the Maritime district in front of the sports hall had nothing to do with the drug. The one where a young person lost his life. It was a girl’s story. It can also start for next to nothing. The mere fact of talking badly to each other or looking at each other badly can be enough to declare an animosity which can lead to what they shoot at each other. Drugs are always for soft drugs. There are no shootings for hard drugs.”
Karim, 38, lives and lives in Molenbeek since the early 1990s, in the Ribaucourt district, known or presented as “one of the hottest”. He accepted this meeting, to talk to us regarding the subject that is making the news, the shootings that occur repeatedly in the neighborhoods. The next will be the fifteenth since the beginning of the year.
Her children are of school age. “I don’t imagine for a moment that they touch drugs and get weapons but there is the influence of the street and the street, it is stronger than the education they receive at home and at school. You also have to be afraid of stray bullets. Living in the neighborhoods means living in fear of having to learn one day that your son was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The question we all ask ourselves “It’s knowing where they find the weapons. If there are shootings, it’s because there are weapons, weapons that circulate easily. Who are these sellers who sell without scruple. Those, I never hear of them being stopped.”
Karim does not direct his anger at the police. “Of course, we will say that they can always do more and better. But we see them in the neighborhoods, in uniform and in civilian clothes. They work. They investigate, they hide, they shadow, all those things. But when the prosecutor’s office releases those they catch, what’s the point? And when the cops of Brussels-city (neighboring municipality, Editor’s note) and the security agents of the Stib (public transport) corner them in the Rogier metro or Botanique and they tell them to get out of Molenbeek, it’s a crazy thing, you shouldn’t be surprised that we find them here.”
An anti-Molenbeek bashing followed the attacks in Brussels. It resumes with the shootings, nourishing once more and once more the reputation of the commune. “I have a friend who sells tires at 1080 Molenbeek. After the attacks, no one bought from him anymore. So he had the idea, on his site, of replacing Molenbeek by Berchem-Sainte-Agathe since he is located on chaussée de Gand, which is located on both municipalities. Its business has resumed directly. And yet, Molenbeek is the most beautiful of the municipalities, the most generous, the richest in its diversity. So many beautiful things are done in Molenbeek, starting in schools. In Molenbeek, you can meet people from all walks of life who have a nice picnic on the sidewalk and have a drink together in peace and without any problem of insecurity. do not speak.”
Karim knows the neighborhoods. Nothing escapes him in Ribaucourt. People talk to him. He see. He knows everything. “The strongest thing is that those who are in the shootings are at the same time young people who have their hearts on their sleeves. They are the same ones who will help the lady to cross the street or carry her shopping, who will to separate people in fights or to feed the needy. So where does it come from? That’s the real question. They went to school together, most of them are neighbours, their parents know each other. , so why do they start shooting at each other instead of going to the gym or playing ping-pong? There must be psychologists to understand the phenomenon. We must start there to be able to stop them. Is Is it the series they watch on Netflix, or those stupid video games with M16s and Kalashnikovs where you kill people by shooting them for fun? Those are the real questions that we don’t ask. finger the European Union which does not prohibit the trade in criminal video games.”
This is his credo: “Hands off Molenbeek.” “Let’s stop hitting the mayor. It’s easy to look for scapegoats. The mayor, when there are rumors that things are going to heat up, I see her go by in an unmarked vehicle, all night long. She knows what’s going on in the neighborhoods. On New Year’s Eve, she’s not in the cocktail parties, I witness it. She’s out in the field, patrolling with the guys.”
Voices like Karim’s call for a reaction from the public prosecutor’s office. “The kids in the shootings, it thinks. When they see that the punitive authority does not punish, then they say to themselves: Let’s go, there is not too much problem in doing bullshit. The prosecution relaxes too quickly. C This is where things need to change. Molenbeek has a good back to take the blame for all that is negative.”
The interview continues, around a delicious Arabic mint tea. A neighbor joins the discussion. It abounds in the direction of Karim, would even like to add some. We would like to photograph the moment. The two, in the same reflex, refuse. “For our safety”, they justify. It is also a sign, an indication of the climate that one encounters in neighborhoods where one says they fear nothing but nevertheless feels caution and mistrust.
