The peeling, mustard-yellow tower blocks of the Chêne Pointu estate are among the most dilapidated in France. Windows are boarded over and shutters eaten by rust. Some lifts, so old that spare parts are no longer made, have been out of service for years. Exposed wires dangle above dark, damp and graffiti-scrawled hallways.
Here, only ten miles from Notre Dame, are the modern-day Misérables of Paris.
“These are the trenches,” says Big Trae, a 31-year-old rapper of French-Angolan origin, while smoking a Philip Morris beside his block. “Nobody is happy with life here. People have been through a lot, in hospital, in prison. We’ve seen a lot.”
Dressed in a black hoodie, headband and metal chain, Trae says the lack of opportunities in his hometown of Clichy-sous-Bois pushes many young men towards crime. He once sold drugs and worked as a pimp.
“I’m ashamed of it,” he adds, in almost a whisper. “It’s not easy to talk about. But when you have Clichy on your CV, you don’t get a real job.”
Nearby, inside the estate’s stark shopping centre, an anti-waste charity offers locals discounted or free food and household goods. It draws a constant flow of mostly elderly residents and mothers with babies. The idea is that €50 worth of shopping can be bought for €5.
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