Brits in France warned over 'most dangerous' city which is 'sketchiest' place

The most dangerous city in Europe is one in France, according to a new crime index, with the rest of the top four comprised of UK cities. Marseille was named second in the ranking, behind Bradford, while Coventry and Birmingham came third and fourth respectively, ahead of Naples in Italy.

The rest of the top 20 saw Montpellier, in France in sixth, ahead of Liege, in Belgium in seventh, and Grenoble, in France in eighth. In ninth was Catania, Italy, ahead of tenth placed Paris, France, eleventh spot Malmo, Sweden, and 12th placed Nice, France.

Athens, in Greece, Lyon, in France and Manchester, in the UK also made the list alongside Brussels, in Belgium and London, in the UK. Dnipro, n Ukraine was eighteenth, with Odessa in the same country nineteenth and in the final and 20th spot, was Thessaloniki, in Greece.

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"There are no major cities in France other than Marseille where there is such a concentration of poverty," Louis Maurin, a representative from the Observatory of Inequalities, told France 3 Régions. Marseille is notorious for its drug war and in 2021, French president Emmanuel Macron chose to launch his re-election campaign from Marseille, a few months after having unveiled a €1.5-billion plan to help the city tackle crime and deprivation, calling such efforts a "duty of the nation".

Gang violence rose to its highest level since 2016 in 2022 - with 32 people shot dead. One comment from a tourist warned that the popular city in France is the “sketchiest city I’ve ever been to", adding added: "My friend had a phone robbed from his hand on the first day, second night after leaving a bar we were surrounded by a huge group of street muggers holding knives.”

And issuing a warning about fifth-placed Naples, one warned Naples was the “unsafest city in Italy… too many attempts of robbery, car theft and violent gangs driving their motorbike on the sidewalks without helmets.”