Solidarity and Support for Calais Seekers of Sanctuary
February 4, 2010 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
By Rahila Gupta
The Guardian - For all those who have been depressed by increasingly harsh measures against asylum seekers by Britain, France and other European countries, here is a glimmer of hope. The transnational No Borders network and SôS Soutien aux Sans Papiers in France have come together to open a centre in Calais, a “self-organising” space to provide practical support, solidarity and information sharing for asylum seekers. Last summer we were subjected to pictures of people being chased like animals in brutal search and destroy missions by the French police in the woods near Calais, cheered on by the British government. The police dragged away 278 campers, nearly half of whom were minors from places like Afghanistan.
According to Sylvie from Calais Migrants Solidarity, opening this centre is an act of resistance to immigration laws and an attempt to draw attention to the plight of migrants. The No Borders network believes that “in a real democracy, every person enriches society in myriad ways, and no one is surplus to requirements; neither the unemployed, the young, the old, or the foreign”. A spokesperson from London No Borders said it will also operate like a drop-in centre, providing clothes, blankets, food and general cheer to those sleeping rough. It will be run mainly by No Borders activists who have been operating on the ground since last year.
Calais migrants demand rights
November 20, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
By Calais Migrant Solidarity
We reproduce below a statement from a grassroots group carrying out practical solidarity work in Calais.
As survival packs are distributed in Calais, migrants and solidarity groups call for human rights for all and an end to police repression.
Today [10 November], packs including blankets, ponchos, tarpaulins and hygiene packs were distributed to more than 200 people by Médecins du Monde in central Calais. British, French and Italian activists from Calais Migrant Solidarity and No Borders joined the event with an exhibition of recent police repression in and around Calais, a banner was hung from the church saying ‘To Migrate is to Resist’ and leaflets were distributed.
Florence Thomas of Calais Migrant Solidarity said, ‘We came here today to say that this is a great help to those that are forced to live out in the cold, but it is not enough. Unrelenting police harassment means migrants can never rest in peace and we are here to highlight that this humanitarian crisis results from deliberate UK and French policy.’
Since French immigration minister Eric Besson’s policy to make Calais a ‘migrant-free zone’ has begun, make-shift camps are being systematically destroyed and many squats have been razed, forcing people to live in increasingly precarious conditions. Today a Sudanese camp was again destroyed by CRS, the French riot police.
This intense police repression is designed to drive people even further out of town, out of sight, further from the support structures that exist like the food distributions. Médecins du Monde’s statement today called for an end to this police repression and also demanded that the materials that it distributed are respected.
Alex Davide from Calais No Borders said, ‘It is once again a situation where we are forced to plead for even the most basic human rights to be respected. The associations wanted to distribute tents, but they were prevented from doing so. Although these survival packs are welcome they do not address the root cause of the problem. We have come here today with paints and cloths and invited the migrants to express their demands and opinions. Too often they are perceived only as victims. We are organising in Calais with migrants and local people to build a political response to the situation. This means being critical of the whole European immigration policy which is persecuting those who are migrating.’
On sheets and huge pieces of paper messages written by people migrating included:
‘We are from Afghanistan. … We want human rights in Europe but especially in France. It’s not just the problem of UK, it is the problem of whole European countries.’
‘Look us what situation we living. We ask you the solution before 2010.’
‘Open the border plz.’ …
Florence Thomas concluded, ‘In Europe the right to sanctuary or to seek a better life is under attack and we believe that only collective political action can oppose this drift towards an extreme racism and xenophobia.’
Immigration: Act first, think later
Few forces are more powerful than the magnetic pull that developed countries exert on the rest of the world. Across deserts, over rapids or bundled into trucks, untold thousands make the journey every year; many more who arrive legally stay on after their paperwork expires. Perhaps it is nagging insecurity – the private acknowledgment that this is one phenomenon that it is way beyond their capacity to undo – that makes politicians so peculiarly desperate to be seen to be doing something or other about illegal immigration. “Act now, think later” has become the orthodoxy, but it has perverse consequences, as was seen on both sides of the Channel yesterday.
On the English side, the attorney general found herself caught out by heavy-handed legislation which she had personally steered through the Lords. When Baroness Scotland employed an illegal immigrant as her housekeeper, she checked all the documents but failed to – as the new law requires – make photocopies and so was served with a civil penalty of some £5,000. It hardly makes a difference that the legislation was designed to deal instead with cases of exploited, trafficked labour; nor that the young woman in question is married to a Briton and so could, easily enough, have obtained the right to remain. For the country’s senior law officer to fall foul of the law is itself a serious matter, and even though the prime minister eventually decided she should stay yesterday, her career hangs by a thread.
In France, meanwhile, the police dismantled the immigrant camp near Calais that has become known as “the jungle”. The UK authorities pushed Paris to take down the shantytown, which housed Afghans hoping to make a dash to Dover. The undoubtedly squalid conditions of the camp were highlighted to explain the urgency of clearing it – an intriguing contrast with the argument used for closing the nearby Red Cross facility at Sangatte in 2002, which was then said to represent an advertisement for seeking asylum in the UK. Many of those in the jungle were planning to stow away with cargo bound for Britain, which is a very dangerous thing to do. But there seems no clear plan for what will now happen to the former residents who were rounded up yesterday. The Refugee Council, which visited the site in May, warns that simply closing it is not in itself any solution at all. Sangatte, after all, originally opened in the 1990s because Calais was littered with rough sleepers. The lack of a viable alternative to the jungle will prevent Afghans arriving in Pas-de-Calais, but instead risks them arriving to live on the streets once more.
So the “delight” the Home Office proclaimed yesterday was as misplaced as its cheap condemnation of “asylum shoppers”. An asylum process is of course required to distinguish arrivals driven by economic hopes and those driven by political despair. But despite the rule that claims should be lodged in the first EU state reached, the French have made it so awkward in Calais that this summer the United Nations high commissioner for refugees announced it was setting up shop in the town. Consequently, most of the Afghans have not yet made a claim, so neither the Home Office nor anyone else can know whether their stories are genuine. Furthermore, there are unaccompanied children in Calais seeking to link up with relatives in Britain – hardly an ambition to dismiss as shopping.
In truth asylum is a European issue which will require a pan-European solution. The way to tackle internal pressure points, such as Calais, is to broker a new deal between EU states on the sharing of asylum duties. Currently, states pass the buck, with many effectively turning virtually all claims down automatically. To put things right, the politicians would have to prioritise quiet diplomacy over noisy action. But yesterday reminded us that, with immigration, being seen to act is still what counts – regardless of how perverse the effects might be.
Johnson backs ’swift’ clearing of Jungle camp
September 22, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
By Mark Bulstrode, Press Association
Home Secretary Alan Johnson today backed the “swift and decisive” clearing of the Jungle refugee camp in Calais.
Mr Johnson said the action by the French Government would disrupt illegal immigration and people trafficking.
Scuffles broke out as people, some in tears, were led away after French police launched early morning swoops on the controversial camp, known as the Jungle.
“I welcome the swift and decisive steps that the French Government has taken today to close the ‘Jungle’ in Calais, action which will disrupt illegal immigration and people trafficking routes,” said Mr Johnson.
“It is a clear signal that France is honouring the agreement we reached in Evian earlier this year to build even stronger controls at the Calais border with the UK.
“The UK Border Agency officers already work day and night alongside the French authorities to secure the border at Calais.
“The UK has agreed a significant further investment to pay for new technology as part of a hi-tech pilot in Calais. This will see the latest state-of-the-art equipment being used to boost searches of vehicles and goods heading for Britain.”
Mr Johnson said 28,000 individual attempts to cross the English Channel were halted in the last year and one million lorries were searched.
French Minister meets with High Commissioner regarding mixed migration
September 18, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 18 September 2009, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
During a meeting with French Minister for Immigration Eric Besson yesterday, 18 September, in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres said he hoped that appropriate measures will be taken to assure the protection of asylum seekers and unaccompanied children during the public action to take place in the northern French city of Calais in the course of the next week. This was expressed following Mr. Besson’s announcement earlier in the week that French authorities will close down the various makeshift settlements in and around Calais – known as the ‘jungle’ – where several hundred undocumented foreigners are waiting in the hope to cross into the UK.
The High Commissioner recognized the challenges posed by irregular migration, and the strain which the network of smugglers and traffickers poses on the Calais region. He further recognized the right of the French Government to maintain law and order. However, he noted that among the irregular migrants in the region there are persons in need of international protection, and noted the protection needs of these individuals, particularly the large number of unaccompanied children.
UNHCR was encouraged by France’s commitment to ensure that the situation of each individual is carefully examined and appropriate solutions found. This should include access to full and fair asylum procedures and the option of assisted voluntary return. It was recognized that many of the people present in the Calais area come from countries affected by war and insecurity such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia and the protection needs of such persons should be carefully considered. The High Commissioner encouraged France to provide accommodation to all asylum seekers, as well as unaccompanied children.
The High Commissioner noted that there is a need for a true European asylum space with consistent rules and procedures. He described the current system as ‘asylum à la carte’. In view of the current disparities, he appealed for a flexible implementation of the Dublin II Regulation, which states that asylum claims should normally be decided in the first country where the applicant entered the EU. He reiterated UNHCR’s views that asylum-seekers should not be returned to Greece, in view of deficiencies in the system there.
UNHCR is present in Calais providing information and counselling undocumented foreigners about claiming asylum in France and other options, such as voluntary return to their home country. Together with other organizations, UNHCR aims at helping the migrants to make an informed decision about their future.
Britain rejects demand it takes migrants from Calais ‘jungle’ camp
September 18, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
Britain has rejected a call for the UK to receive some of the migrants from the so-called ‘jungle’ camp in Calais when it closes.
French police are expected to move within days to close the camp, where as many as 2,000 people are living, most of them Afghans.
Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, suggested the UK should take in those with relatives already living in Britain.But a spokesman for the Border Agency said genuine asylum seekers should make their claim in the country where they enter Europe.
He said: “People seeking asylum should do so in the first safe country they come to, those who are not in need of protection will be expected to return home.
“The decision to close illegal encampments in and around Calais is a matter for the French government and we will continue to co-operate with them on tackling illegal immigration.”
Mr Guterres told the BBC: “There will be situations in which we would recommend also the British authorities to consider the possibility to receive, for instance, people that have large families in Britain and things of this sort.
“What I believe is important is that everybody that is in need of protection should be granted protection.”
Under EU rules, asylum seekers are required to make their claim in the country where they enter Europe. Most of the Afghans living in Calais travel through the Middle East to Greece before crossing the continent.
Earlier this week, the French immigration minister, Eric Besson, said closing the camp would send a strong message to people traffickers. Every night dozens of Afghans attempt to get to Britain hidden in the back of lorries bound for Dover.
Last year 28,000 were caught by UK border officials.
The house of despair
July 31, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
A filthy squat in Calais is home to 50 Eritreans who daily try to cross the Channel seeking asylum in Britain. Here are their stories
The first thing you notice is the smell. Sour and rancid, it cuts at the back of your throat; a powerful combination of rotting food, urine and sweat. Next it’s the flies, lots of them, circling in a frenzy. Then, out of the gloom, a pair of eyes emerges, and another – and then the shape of a young man, sleeping deeply on one of the grubby mattresses that line the floor of this derelict place. A few minutes from the centre of Calais, this is “Africa house”, so called because of the 40 or 50 Eritrean asylum seekers who now squat here, waiting and hoping.
Most of the inhabitants are male, aged between 14 and 30, although every so often a young woman darts past from one filthy room to the next. Small piles of possessions dot each room: a few clothes, a tattered Bible, a torn rucksack, a jumbo-sized bottle of ketchup. There is no electricity, and the windows are either boarded up or covered with blue tarpaulin.
Outside, rubbish is piled up high against the walls. Old sleeping bags lie on top of empty milk cartons, tins of soup and yet more flies. There is graffiti on the walls, most of it in Tigrinya, the main Eritrean language, although the occasional, quaintly old- fashioned slogan is in English: “Be sociable to everyone, a friend to many and enemy to no one, faithful to one,” reads one wall. “God help Africa,” says another.
Despite being further from the rubbish, the smell upstairs is worse. The previous night, I am told, the local police threw tear gas into this house, trying to make life so difficult for the squatters that they would be forced to leave. But, other than sneaking inside one of the trucks that queue near here en route to the UK, these Eritrean refugees have nowhere to go. They spend their days washing their clothes in a nearby canal, or waiting for food hand-outs from one of the local charities.
Issayas tells me he is 14, but looks much younger: “I have been here one month and two weeks. I came via Libya, then Italy.” Like most of the Eritreans seeking asylum, he has made the treacherous journey alone. So too has Michael: “I have not seen my family for six months. They are waiting for me to send money. I paid $6,000 to get here, and I can’t call them until I get to the UK. I’ve been here three or four months but I can’t tell them.”
The residents of Africa house are nervous of our presence, and only describe their journeys from Eritrea upon guarantee of anonymity. They are even more reluctant to go into any detail about why they left the country of their birth. According to a damning Human Rights Watch report from earlier this year: “Many of the refugees were fearful of describing their experiences in Eritrea, because they were concerned that doing so could result in repercussions for their families.”
Yoseph is sitting on a dirty mattress with his broken leg bandaged. “On the way from Libya, soldiers caught us in the sea, so I spent five months in prison there. After prison, I pay $700 to come to Trablous [Tripoli], then $1,500 to cross to Italy, and from Italy I came here. It’s very difficult. I have been here six months.”
Broken arms, legs and ankles are a common sight here, a result of the refugees jumping over the high fences and falling off the lorries. On a typical day, a minibus from Secours Catholique or one of the other local charities might take 10 refugees to hospital. Those with broken limbs carry a resigned look, knowing their chances of slipping quietly into a truck have diminished further.
Many attempt to cross into Britain several times a night: “One night I tried three times,” says Merhawi, who has also lived in this Calais squat for six months. “The border is very hard, the police are serious. I left home two years ago, I don’t have anything.”
Earlier this month, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) set up a Calais office to help people claim asylum in France, Italy or elsewhere in Europe. But many of these refugees still want to come to the UK because they perceive their life prospects to be better here.
View full article here
Migrants in Calais need our help
July 4, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
By Donna Covey
The United Nations high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) has announced it is formally establishing a full-time presence in the French port of Calais. The issue of Calais and the build up of migrants there seemingly desperate to reach the UK is not a new one. In fact, it has been ongoing since the closure of the Sangatte centre in 2002, a move that dealt with the symptom of the problem, rather than the cause.
It is a story that attracts media attention that is disproportionate to the numbers: reports of how many migrants are there vary from 700 to 2,000 people, however in relation to the number of people applying for asylum (25,670 to the UK in 2008) it is not a large number. In fact, contrary to what certain sections of the media would have you believe, France receives more applications for asylum than the UK (more than 27,000 in 2008) and is more generous when granting leave to stay.
The conditions for the migrants in Calais are atrocious. They are camped on waste ground and in squatted houses in the town, they queue each day for soup kitchens provided by local volunteers, and have little access to facilities as basic as running water. Included in this group are unaccompanied children. It is to all our shame that they are left to live in such appalling circumstances.
Why people come is a difficult question to answer. It is worth bearing in mind where the majority of these people have come from: Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Eritrea, all countries where conflict and human rights abuses are rife, and that produce refugees.
We visited Calais recently and spoke to some of those staying there about why they wanted to come to the UK. Significantly, no one mentioned benefits, some mentioned work (which shows how little they do know about our system – asylum seekers are prevented from working by law), but many talked about being reunited with family, and a significant number mentioned speaking English rather than French. Which of course makes sense – most people with a choice about where to go if forced to flee their home would go somewhere they could speak the language. And this, of course, is where the complexity lies.
Most refugees flee on foot, to the nearest safe country. For example, Chad is currently home to hundreds of thousands of Darfur refugees, while the UK had just 265 applications from Sudanese nationals last year. For some, however, this is simply not an option, and they have to seek safety further afield. Recent research we carried out highlights the potential human cost of exporting our border controls – stationing officials in refugee producing countries and countries bordering the EU to prevent people getting to the UK – without having a mechanism for recognising refugees.
This is clearly an issue that needs to be addressed at an EU level. We need to ensure that asylum procedures are standardised across the whole of the EU, so that people seeking asylum are treated in the same way whichever country they go to, and that the system is fair and humane. Ensuring refugees are able to be reunited with family should be an intrinsic and accessible part of this. In Calais, both governments should work together to ensure the humanitarian needs of this group are met, and that they are helped to access the French asylum process. Now UNHCR is there this must be a priority.
Above all, we must remember that among this small group will be vulnerable people, including children, in need of our help. We need to be careful we do not move any further towards “fortress Europe“, leaving those fleeing for their lives to an unknown fate.
Article first published in the Guardian Saturday 04 July 2009.
Donna Covey is chief executive of the Refugee Council, the leading charity in the UK working with refugees and asylum seekers. Her previous roles include being chief executive of Asthma UK and Director of the Association of Community Health Councils for England and Wales. She spent many years at the GMB Union, where she was the National Officer responsible for equal rights, and a member of the TUC General Council
The UN in Calais:Can it resolve the refugee problem?
Author: By Robert Verkaik
Why are we asking this now?
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is formally establishing a full-time presence in the French port. The agency’s staff will help migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers negotiate the French and British immigration systems. But the focus will be on assisting those who want to request asylum in France. The UN has had a part-time presence in Calais since early June and, as of yesterday, that has been increased to five days a week. The UNHCR says it is important that those people fleeing persecution and war have free access to “unbiased” information so that they know they can claim asylum in Calais. Part of the purpose of the renewed mission is to protect migrants and asylum-seekers from the misinformation given to them by traffickers.
How many refugees are living in Calais?
An estimated 1,600 refugees and migrants are camped outside Calais, a fifth of them children. But the current situation in France is a far cry from the Sangatte encampment, which saw 68,000 people pass through its vast halls between 1998 and 2002. The camp was designed to hold about 900 refugees, but the Red Cross said numbers peaked at about 2,000. Sangatte was closed in 2002 after a deal was struck by the then home secretary, David Blunkett, and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, who is now the President.
What are the conditions like in the camps?
Pretty squalid. There is no proper provision of even basic facilities, and refugees scavenge or rely on charity hand-outs. On 13 June, a young Eritrean drowned in a Calais canal after he went there to wash. Most of refugees live in appaling conditions in a shanty town constructed in the woods near the Channel Tunnel, commonly known as “The Jungle”. Last month, two of the camps, which had been used by 100 migrants, were levelled by French bulldozers.
Who is living there?
According to the international charity Médecins Sans Frontières, the majority arrive from countries such as Afghanistan, Somalia or Palestine and are fleeing war, violence, hunger and extreme hardship. The recent unrest in Pakistan and Iran has also increased numbers. Many have made long and perilous journeys. In a desperate bid to escape their plights, some have paid money to traffickers to get them to Britain, where they may have relatives. The traffickers often lie about the true legal position in France and Britain.
What do locals think of the camps?
The sentiment in Calais could be best summed up as “not in my back yard”. The local tourism industry and many businesses are opposed to the camps because there is a strong perception that the refugee problem deters people from visiting the French port. They blame Britain for not doing enough to discourage asylum seekers. The UNHCR describes relations between the refugees and the people of Calais as “tense”. Recent years have seen protest marches about the situation.
What would happen if the French authorities were to close them?
The lesson of Sangatte shows that emptying the camps would not stop immigrants and refugees coming to stay at the French ports. When Sangatte was shut, it took only a few months before more refugees came back to the town to find makeshift, alternative accommodation. Closing the camps would simply result in a displacement of the immigrants, making it even more difficult to monitor them. The job of policing the immigrants is made much easier by having a designated refugee camp.
Why don’t the refugees want to stay in France?
There is a perception that the French immigration rules are much stricter than the British ones, and so some refugees pin all their hopes on applying for asylum in the UK. But many more refugees want to come to Britain because they believe they have a genuine claim for asylum. Some are Iraqis or Afghans who have worked with British forces during the occupation of their countries and now fear persecution because they are treated as collaborators. Others have been tortured or raped. A study by Smain Laacher, a French sociologist, found that nearly 90 per cent of the Iraqi Kurds and Tajiks or Pashtuns from Afghanistan were reasonably well educated and had saved the equivalent of several years’ wages to pay for the journey. It begs an obvious question: what terrors did they leave behind to prefer to spend their lives in a makeshift camp with no sanitation?
What does the law say?
Under the Dublin convention, a refugee is supposed to claim asylum in the first safe country through which he or she travels, and an EU member state may return an asylum seeker to that country. The convention is a treaty between EU members which came into force in September 1997. Under the treaty, a member state is responsible for handling an asylum application if a member of the asylum-seeker’s family has been given refugee status in that country, or if a refugee has been granted a visa or residence permit for that country. A member state is also responsible if the refugee has been able to enter its territory because of poor border controls or has been allowed to enter without a visa.
What are Britain and France doing to stop immigrants from crossing the Channel?
The two governments are currently discussing the creation of a new immigrant holding centre within the British side of the Calais docks. This would be more institutionalised than Sangatte and would allow both immigration authorities to send illegal immigrants home more easily. Nearly 20,000 illegal attempts by immigrants to enter Britain were thwarted by the UK Border Authority in Calais last year, compared with 7,500 in 2004. A further 9,000 were stopped in Coquelle, Paris and in Dunkirk, Belgium. It is not known how many more immigrants succeeded in outwitting border guards. Phil Woolas, the Border and Immigration minister, says: “Last year alone, UK Border Agency staff at our French and Belgium controls not only searched more than one million lorries but also stopped 28,000 attempts to cross the Channel illegally. The illegal migrants in France are not queuing to get into Britain – they have been locked out.”
What are the alternatives to the current policies?
The options tend to fall between two extremes. One is to open up Europe’s borders, forcing other European states taking their fair share of immigrants, so that there is a free flow of immigrants. After several years, migration across continents and countries might even out. In Greece, for example, 99.9 per cent of all asylum claimants are rejected, with similarly high rejection rates in Slovenia. With such low refugee recognition rates across parts of southern and eastern Europe, there is little incentive for persons who think they may have legitimate asylum claims to break off from the people traffickers and claim asylum while en route. The other extreme option would be to stop all immigrants from entering Britain. This would contravene EU and international law and end Britain’s long and proud record as a place for those seeking sanctuary from all kinds of persecution.
Would closing the camps stop illegal immigrants from entering Britain?
Yes…
* The camps in northern France actually act as a magnet for illegal immigrants from across the world who want to come to the British Isles
* Human traffickers would not be able to trawl the camps for victims
* Without anywhere to live, the immigrants would soon enough return to their homelands
No…
* Closure would simply displace any illegal immigrants and refugees – the problem would not go away
* The majority of residents in the camps are genuine asylum-seekers and not illegal immigrants
* The best way to stop illegal immigrants is to tighten up Britain’s border controls
This article first appeared in The Independent July 02, 2009.
Protest to call for ‘no borders’
June 27, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
Activists campaigning for the abolition of migration controls are holding a demonstration march in Calais.
The organisers, mainly from the UK, France and Belgium, are holding a week-long protest camp in Calais and hope up to 2,000 people will march.
The No Border Camp told the BBC about 500 people were staying there so far, including campaigners, migrant support groups and migrants living in the area.
Police have arrested some activists in the town but have not entered the camp.
Alex Clarke, 30, from London, said a group of several hundred people had walked from the camp and were gathering in Calais before setting off on a demonstration march through the town.
‘Hyped-up stories’
She told the BBC there was a heavy police presence but “for now it’s a really good atmosphere”.
She added: “We’re just hoping for a safe demonstration really. There’s been a lot of hyped-up stories about us trying to rip down the border.
“A broad section of people are here and what they are calling for is a freedom of movement, but that doesn’t equate to tearing down the border.”
Protesters had complained of heavy-handed policing which they said had gradually increased since the camp event began on 23 June.
They said there were helicopters circling overhead, and some 1,500 armed officers were patrolling the town and the area around the authorised camp – in a park outside Calais – and manning several checkpoints.
Charities distribute food and clothing to people in the ‘jungle’
|
A Calais police official told the BBC a helicopter was flying over the camp. He said he “couldn’t say” how many officers had been deployed but confirmed they were carrying shields, batons and guns, plus tear gas.
The campaign group said the camp was non-violent and have vehemently denied some press reports suggesting they intended to storm the Channel Tunnel on Saturday to help migrants waiting to reach Britain enter the country.
‘Freedom of movement’
The No Border Camp – one of several to have been organised around the world – was aiming to highlight the plight of migrants living in “refugee camp” conditions in Calais, said campaigner Sam Davies.
Organised by a broad coalition – including the UK No Borders network – it also calls for the freedom of movement for all, with the abolition of borders and all immigration controls.
There are estimated to be about 1,000 migrants in makeshift camps, known as “the jungle”, in Calais.
Most – from countries such as Afghanistan, Somalia and Eritrea – are hoping to enter Britain, sometimes by smuggling themselves into lorries.
The camps began to appear after France closed the Sangatte Red Cross refugee centre in 2002.- BBC News
