Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who visited the Jardins d’Eole on Wednesday, pledged they would be rehoused elsewhere as they hung about outside the park, barred from entering by security agents.

The park is near the Stalingrad metro stop, where crack use has wreaked havoc for decades and bedevilled a succession of mayors trying to clean up one of the poorer corners of the capital.

Authorities decided to turn the Jardins d’Eole site over to addicts in May, allowing them to spend the night there instead of on the streets.

But this drew outrage among local residents who feared the park risked becoming a no-go zone rife with crime.

In recent weeks, some fed-up neighbours took to launching powerful fireworks at groups of drug users, in scenes that spread on social media.

Visiting the park with local officials, Hidalgo, a Socialist who is weighing a bid for the presidency next year, said she had suggested a number of potential treatment sites to the French state, which usually oversees health and security policies.

“If these proposals are not accepted then we will assume our responsibilities and open sites complete with doctors, psychiatrists, nurses and aid groups,” she said.

Family activities will also resume in the Eole gardens, she said, including an urban farm with goats.