200 migrants arrested in Calais

NEARLY 200 migrants were arrested in the Calais area yesterday in a major police operation.

They are being kept in police custody for questioning at Calais, Coquelles, Boulogne-sur-Mer and Lille.

The police said that the swoop was aimed at catching passeurs - people who facilitate the movement of illegal immigrants in and out of a country, usually for payment.

The raid happened as Calais prepares for a visit by Immigration Minister Eric Besson on Thursday.

Nearly 500 gendarmes were deployed in the area – arresting about 150 people at Calais itself and another 44 at motorway service areas in the surrounding area, according to the Pas-de-Calais prefecture.

Prefect Pierre de Bousquet de Florian said: “We have noticed in the last few weeks that far from things calming down, there is increasing pressure, with an increase in the number of migrants and an increasingly aggressive attitude towards locals and the forces of law and order. I wanted to call a halt to these developments.”

Jean-Claude Lenoir, vice president of the Salam association which offers humanitarian help to the migrants, said: “They are so keen to flatter Mr Besson that they have gone so far as to do a ‘clean-up’ operation so as to make him think everything is fine, everything is tidy, there are fewer migrants now.”

He described the action as “repressive” but said he was not aware of any violence by police during the raid.

The prefect denied there was any particular link with Mr Besson’s visit and said the police only arrested certain identified people and did not act at random. “It must not be allowed to be said that passeurs and traffickers make the law…It was necessary to reaffirm that the forces of law and order are in charge,” he said.

It is estimated that around 800 migrants are currently at Calais. Since the closure of the Sangatte Red Cross centre in 2002 they have continued to congregate in the area in the hope of getting to Britain, notably by hiding in trucks embarking on ferries.

There was controversy earlier this year when the UK’s immigration minister said it was being proposed to open a new immigrant centre at Calais for rounding people up and deporting them. However Mr Besson has denied this, though he said construction of some sanitation facilities is planned.

Photo: Eric Besson by David Monniaux