Youth Activist Battles Marseille’s Drug Cartels Despite Deadly Threats

Marseille, a key European port city long plagued by drug trafficking, finds itself at a crossroads where rampant crime threatens the very fabric of society. At the center of this battle stands 22-year-old Amine Kessaci, a law student and tireless anti-drug activist who has suffered personal tragedy with the loss of two brothers to brutal gang violence. While French authorities bemoan rising cocaine use and expanding narcotics networks that now ensnare minors as young as 12 in deadly criminal enterprises, it is local heroes like Kessaci who embody real resistance. Raised in Frais Vallon—a housing project gripped by poverty and...