Updates from Calais ( 4/5 August 2010 )

( source: http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/ )

Wednesday 4th August

A raid was made on the Pashtun jungle at 6.30 am on Tuesday morning. No Borders activists were present and able to alert the people sleeping there. 5 Afghans were arrested, some of whom had papers and were therefore apparently arrested unlawfully.

The police then went to the site of food distribution and detained six people in breach of an agreement not to make arrests there.

The police then spent the rest of the afternoon roaming around Calais, hassling and arresting migrants whenever they had the chance.

Various groups of No Borders activists were on patrol on this morning. A large raid was made on the Hazara jungle with around 6 police vehicles. They managed to arrest one 12 year old boy. The PAF (Police Aux Frontieres) were aggressive with the activists and attempted to remove them by force. Two undercover officers were present.

A raid also took place on the Pashtun jungle yet again, this time at around 6am. Tents were destroyed and blankets were stolen.

Thursday 5th August: New CRS unit is in town

Plenty of CRS vans were seen roaming about the town last night but we neither witnessed nor heard of any arrests. This may have been because a new unit has taken over and were getting to know the area. The calm didn’t last long; by the next morning they had arrested scores of people.

The first to be hit were the Pashtuns, in what is a daily routine. Residents were alerted to the presence of the police and only two were arrested. The police attempted to take an activist’s camera.

The CRS returned 15 minutes later but did not manage to catch anyone else.

They then turned their attention to the food distribution site, in breach of an agreement between the local authority and the charities. Two people were arrested there at 8.40am as they waited for the charity, Auberge des Migrants, to arrive and give out tea and breakfast. Both men had papers and are therefore thought to have been arrested unlawfully.

Twenty minutes later, five people were arrested near Hangar Kronsdadt.

Two more migrants with papers were arrested near the site of the food distribution (outside the BCMO building) at 10am.

At the same time, the CRS were seen on their way to the kurdish jungle. They spent so much time hassling activists for their papers that they didn’t seem to bother with the jungle.

CRS vans were seen roaming around town all morning looking for more targets to meet their arrest quotas.

A raid was made on the Pashtun jungle at 6.30 am on Tuesday morning. No Borders activists were present and able to alert the people sleeping there. 5 Afghans were arrested, some of whom had papers and were therefore apparently arrested unlawfully.