Thousands of people gathered in Marseille on Saturday to honour the brother of an anti-drug activist murdered in France's second largest city whose death sparked nationwide calls to confront drug crime.

Demonstrators chanted "Justice for Mehdi" before observing a minute of silence at the roundabout where the 20-year-old Mehdi Kessaci was shot dead by a gunman in his parked car on November 13.

Investigations are ongoing but authorities consider the murder to be a "warning crime" linked to the anti-drug activism of his brother Amine Kessaci, 22, who was welcomed by cheers as he joined the crowd on Saturday.

Amine Kessaci is now living under police protection and the gathering was marked by heavy police presence in the southern port city hard hit by drug crime.

The young anti-drug and env

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