The Saint-Denis are used to living in the shadows.
Although it was chosen in the 1990s as the site for France’s fashionable national stadium, the only times the district has been under the bright spotlights that remove the darkness from its sports venue have been out of scandal or embarrassment.
Step away from the wide concrete walkways that crowd consultants to the Stade de France and see an expanding mass of decaying concrete housing blocks. Drug addicts sneak through doors, gangs of beggars harass other people outside supermarkets and young people gather on the stairs of communities to look at passers-by with suspicion.
Perplexed tourists stare in dismay at the vandalized, excrement-filled public toilets, no doubt in a position to climb a flood of posts on online forums warning of the risks of staying too close to the stadium.
As French football legend Thierry Henry said before the 2022 Champions League final: “Be careful, the stadium is in Saint-Denis, in Paris.
“It’s close to Paris, but for me it’s not necessary to be in Saint-Denis. It’s not the same.
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Mourad El Mouden, a long-time resident, is frustrated by such warnings. There are dangers, he acknowledges, but necessarily more than in other parts of the city.
You can also have moments of hope; like when Henry and his teammates inaugurated the stadium in an excellent way by winning the country’s first World Cup.
“In 1998, France’s victory had an impact on the entire community,” smiles El Mouden. “It happened here and other people reacted.
“But since then there have been many negative things. Today the panorama is sad: there is a lack of security, other people are deficient and have no means.
The lack of progress for the rest of Saint-Denis means that whether it’s the Rugby World Cup or the Champions League at the stadium, for locals it can just as easily happen in the city.
This year the Olympic Games are being held and to mark the occasion, banners have been hung on concrete homes in densely populated areas.
Salah, a long-time resident, doesn’t pay much attention to it. “The Olympics are politics,” he says with a wave of his hand. “We are forgotten. “
This reaction is far from unique. Most of the citizens of Saint-Denis interviewed by L’Express described feeling “ignored” at one of the sport’s most important festivals.
Some believed they had been intentionally excluded from the Olympic festival. After all, an army of police invaded the area and the so-called red zones were introduced, which strictly restrict movement without an official QR code.
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The French state says the over-coverage measures are a reaction to repeated threats by terrorists to attack the Games and the neighborhood’s history of violence.
In 2015, the Stade de France was attacked by three suicide bombers as part of the horrific attacks on the city in November. The three men had attempted to enter the stadium, but when they were pushed back, they detonated their vests, killing one user and wounding 50 others.
The then French president, Francios Hollande, had to be evacuated from the venue where a foreign football match between France and Germany was taking place.
However, for the citizens of Saint-Denis, the restrictions made them feel as if they were living under an occupying force.
Ridha, Salah’s friend, arrested the day before at a checkpoint without the correct information and fined 230 euros.
“We are stagnant,” he added. If you take your car, you will be fined. If you take public transport. It’s very expensive.
El Mouden warned that there is an even more sinister force at play.
“It’s like Covid-19, where they sacrificed our freedoms,” he said.
“We have the QR code, which they created and it’s about discrimination. “
When asked why he thinks QR codes have been introduced, the Saint-Denis local added: “It’s very simple. In 2022 with Real Madrid and Liverpool.
Chaotic scenes marked the Champions League final between the two teams two years ago and the match had to be delayed because fans were simply unable to access the Stade de France. There was also disorder between the fans and the locals.
The French government was heavily criticized around the world for its handling of events that night. Although the young people of the community would say that the excessively competitive and useless policing that supposedly affected the prestige quo in Saint-Denis.
We encountered teams who said that with this type of technique they “hated” the police and felt “at war” with them.
The Champions League is, in short, a classic example of how Saint-Denis never manages to take a break.
Improvements have been noted in parts of the neighborhood’s housing situation and employment opportunities. The challenge is that they are too overshadowed by national scandals that bring the region back to the headlines for the wrong reasons.
El Mouden, who believes that Saint-Denis is the other of any other populated region in France, feels this struggle more deeply than anyone.
“Of course, as a resident of Saint-Denis, I have been a victim of attacks, but that will never save me from being proud of this neighborhood,” he declared.
“It’s a mix. We have produced many outstanding artists and athletes and, on the other hand, there is also crime. For example, a few months ago an escaped prisoner was arrested here and earlier a terrorist was killed not far away. There is drug trafficking, which was previously located in [another neighborhood], and which is taking over. »
A big fan of the London 2012 Olympic Games, El Mouden Paris wants to spread part of the legacy that the London Games boast of having left in Saint-Denis.
These Games have wanted to invite the world to Stratford, in particular to East London. However, for the time being, the population does not believe that Saint-Denis will benefit from the same treatment.
“In any city where the Olympics are organized, there is, of course, a dark community that we remember,” El Mouden continued.
“When you invite someone to your house, you take them to the living room, you probably don’t take them to the bathroom. It’s exactly the same, they probably wouldn’t put a price on anything that doesn’t have it, even if it’s a neighbor.
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