A 15-year-old boy who was shot in the head during a bloody clash between drug gangs in western France on Saturday died from his wounds, the regional prosecutor announced, and the interior minister warned that the country was at risk of “Mexicanization”. to increasing drug crimes.

The teenager had been in intensive care since Thursday evening’s shootings, which have sparked nationwide alarm amid rising violence in gang wars that have made streets in the city of Poitiers unsafe.

In the incident involving dozens of people, 4 children aged between 15-16 were injured as a result of fire opened in front of a restaurant in the city.

The source added that police used tear gas to break up the fight and restored order about 45 minutes after arriving at the scene.

France’s fight against drug-related violence is at a “turning point” as the country faces a choice between “full mobilisation” or the “Mexicanisation” of the country, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on Friday.

Mexico has suffered more than 450,000 drug-related murders since the government began using the military to fight notorious drug cartels in 2006.

Gang violence, long associated with the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, has spread to other French cities in recent years.

Victims include underage gang members, some guarding trading posts or employed as hitmen, as well as innocent bystanders.

Mayor Leonore Moncond’huy said Poitiers’ experience on Thursday was “unprecedented” for the city of 90,000, adding that it “shows quite serious improvements in society.”

Retailleau, a member of the right-wing Republicans and a hardline on security issues, has called for the war on drugs to become a “nationwide effort” since becoming interior minister in Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s shaky minority government.

“The ‘narco bandits’ have no borders anymore… These gunfights are not happening in South America, they are happening in Rennes, in Poitiers… we are at a tipping point,” Retailleau told BFMTV. (AFP)