Calais Draws More Refugees, And Trouble - IPS ipsnews.net
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In the last few weeks there has been a noticeable escalation in the frequency and intensity of these activities. Last Thursday police evicted 35 migrants from the dilapidated prefab buildings in the avenue Blériot known as Africa House, under the supervision of the sub-prefect of the Calais region Alain Gérard.
The following night police raided the food distribution centre where some of the evicted migrants had camped, destroying their tents and confiscating their belongings.
Since then there have been two more evictions from various squats and camps around the city. The authorities have also increased their checks and controls along the truck depots beyond the city near Dunkerque, where a shifting population of some 400-odd migrants en route to the UK have attempted to stay in order to escape the police harassment in the city.
Few people expect them to stop coming to a city that has become a symbol of Europe’s ruthless and dysfunctional response to 21st century migration. And with a president determined to mobilise anti- immigrant sentiment to stay in power, and the Pas-de-Calais region offering training facilities to Olympic athletes for the London games, the city’s migrants are clearly even more unwanted and superfluous than usual, and repression is the order of the day.
#migrants #Calais #violences_policières