After the riots of 2023, the street educators in the front line in the sensitive districts

A merguez smell floats in the air, and speakers diffuse the last pop tubes. No doubt, the summer holiday season started in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine). This Saturday afternoon, the city brings together the inhabitants at the Parc des Chènevreux around a swing, football and hot dog show.

Well known in Nanterre, the Association of 4 Chemins animates two catering stands with a group of high school students and young people in civic service. This specialized prevention structure brings together “street educators”. These professionals walk the bottom of buildings, cafes or stairwells every day, meet 11-25 years. Their mission is to identify and support young people “in the process of marginalization”, who are exposed to risky behaviors (drugs, alcohol, prostitution, etc.).

Among the young protégés, Adama*, Alexis*and Joseph*, three Nanterriens aged 15 to 19, are responsible for selling sodas and candies, at the refreshment bar. The money raised will allow them to finance part of a summer stay, with the association. But for the time being, customers do not jostle at the gate. “You would have a little more people if you got up to welcome people with a big smile, instead of making a burial head!” », Quite Estelle*, an educator. “Pff … Smile, it is useless,” replies Adama, in a typically adolescent pale tone. Before getting up despite everything, the face derived.

Riots in June 2023

Since 1975, the 4 -way association has been involved in Nanterre and Colombes, the neighboring city. It acts in priority districts, which the public authorities classify among the poorest in France. In June 2023, these urban areas were harshly struck by riots, notably the Pablo-Picasso city, recognizable by its naked towers-bluish and constellated HLM bars. This is where Nahel Merzouk lived, 17 -year -old teenager, killed after a shot at close range by a police officer, during a road check.

As of the evening of his death, on June 27, 2023, the district ignited, in a vast movement of anger against the police and a society perceived as stigmatizing. Residents faced the police with mortars, and burnt down lines of cars, before attacking several public buildings. Far from its bohemian image, with its sky color towers, Pablo-Picasso then became the epicenter of an earthquake. The nights of violence have spread to 500 municipalities, everywhere in France, and in the space of a week, 2,500 buildings have been degraded, including more than a hundred schools and town halls.

“Street Educs”, the last link with these young people

In the aftermath of the turmoil, the 4 -way association organized several summer stays with groups of young people, to calm the spirits. “Six months later, we accompanied several friends from Nahel to make a large fresco on a wall in the neighborhood,” says Damien Hénique, chief of a team of educators on 4 paths, in Nanterre. With the help of an artist graffiti artist, they paid tribute to Nahel and denounced police violence, through art. This experience sums up the philosophy of our association well. Our goal is not to make morals but to explain that violence is not the solution. We can transform anger into something healthy and constructive. »»

A perilous exercise, which “street educs” can lead better than anyone. In fact, they are often the only adults that part of the youth in the neighborhoods, breaking with the institutions, listening again. Neither teachers nor social workers, specialized prevention professionals cultivate a special link with those they support. They master the codes of the neighborhoods, and know how to wait, come back several times to a band of friends before creating links. Over the years, the team has established an almost family relationship with its protégés, and can redirect them towards school, prepare a CV, or start a care path.

“You have to work on long time to help young people reintegrate into the company,” supports Anne-Marie Fauvet, president of the National Committee of Specialized Prevention Actors. The problem is that the state has no coherent policy in priority neighborhoods. He launched plans of one year, two years, then nothing. It is a short-term vision, incompatible with our action ”.

Example eloquent, the city’s inter -ministerial committee launched in 2021 the “prevention battalions”. An army of 600 educators and social mediators, deployed in 45 priority districts for a period of three years. After the riots in June 2023, the government resolved to maintain these positions, for an exceptional “one year. But in June 2025, the system ended. And with him, all these patiently woven links between young people drifting and those who, every day, tried to bring them back in the right way.

*The first names have been modified.