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"There is unbridled use of weapons of war to try to conquer new territory" between drug gangs said Frédérique Camilleri, police chief for the ���dzܳ�����-���-���ô�Ա� department that Marseille is a part of.

In protest against their colleague's detention, scores of officers in the Bouches-du-Rhone administrative department where Marseille is located have gone on sick leave or are responding only to emergency calls.

The Bouches-du-Rhone department on Tuesday was placed under a "red alert", with authorities seeing a "very high risk" of wildfires.

About six small-scale blazes have been recorded in the regions of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie, Grand Est, Bouches-Du-Rhone and Corsica island.

Christophe Mirmand, a local authority leader in the Bouches-du-Rhone region, said: "There was no danger notice for this building, and it is not in a neighbourhood identified as having substandard housing."