We were going to stay in Marseilles for 1 night to do a boat trip to the catafalques. We arrived in the city about 6 pm by car. Our hotel was by the old port. We had to go around the block and were attacked by thieves on scooters! They opened the back door and the back hatch and grabbed some luggage. Our friend ran after them and they dropped the heavy bag. We took off driving through red lights hitting the door locks constantly. Two minutes later we were attacked again. This time my passenger door and the back hatch (even though we were locking every second) were opened and my bag was grabbed and 2 bags were stolen from the back! It was very frightening! We took off and this time were able to get away. When we had a chance to stop we called the police. They hung up on us because we could not speak French! We did not stay at our hotel at the port but instead at the airport. We did not do the boat tour, we just wanted to get out of there. We made a police report at the airport the next day. They were very nice, but said this is very common and that thieves can hit the locks hard and "bump" them open. They said Nice and Cannes were the same way. A lot of immigrants and very high unemployment