Dawn raid on Calais “Jungle”
Riot police arrest 276 illegal immigrants who were camping in Calais hoping to get into the UK
POLICE made a dawn raid today on the “Jungle” – a wooded area near to the port of Calais where until recently an estimated 700 – 800 immigrants were camping out.
Immigration Minister Eric Besson had been predicting the imminent clearance of the Jungle since last week – a prior warning that an association offering aid to immigrants in the area, Salam, has said might have been intended to make sure many people left before the police arrived. The association says that since the start of the month about 1,000 have left to go to the UK and they claim it is possible border controls were relaxed to make it easier.
Riot police vans encircled the area at dawn warning immigrants of the raid by megaphone.
The migrants held up protest banners – one of which said: “We need shelter and protection. We want asylum and peace. The jungle is our home.”
The 276 migrants (mainly Afghans) - were then rounded up and put onto buses.
Mr Besson is expected to attend this morning and bulldozers are expected to move in to destroy temporary shelters.
A Salam spokesman, Vincent Lenoir, said there were incidents of violent arrests which gave a bad image of France.
He said he expected to see most of the immigrants back in squats in the Calais area in coming days and weeks as this is what has happened after previous raids.
“They have no solution for the migrants,” he said. “If they had they would have done a surprise raid so they could arrest more people.”
Calais Mayor Nathalie Bouchard said locals were fed up of the way their town had been “taken hostage” by people seeking to get into Britain and there were an increasing number of incidents where migrants were aggressive towards the Calaisiens.
She said the clearance of the Jungle would send out a strong psychological message to reassure people living nearby – as well as a strong warning to the passeurs (people who help migrants to get into another country, usually for profit).
Besson had promised he would now aim to close down the squats, of which about 20 were known, she said. She claimed Britain’s lack of participation in the Schengen European border agreements was partly to blame.
Photo: Nicolas Bouillon
