Mass Dispersal: The Strategy of the French State
During Caznueve’s last visit to Calais, a goal was announced to reduce the numbers of migrants in Calais to 2000 people by January. Over the last two weeks, this plan seems to have gone into overdrive and it is becoming more clear what their various tactics are to make this possible.
Deportations (or at least the threat of) to countries of Origin
For communities from Afghanistan and Sudan (there are other nationalities that France deports that aren’t currently around in Calais, but maybe from other crossing points in Northern France, like with Vietnamese people) there has been an increased pressure coming from the threat of deportation to country of origin.
The people at risk are those who are refusing to claim asylum in France, because they want to travel to the UK without being finger printed in France.
Mass Dispersal to Detention Centres across France
Since Tuesday last week, 50 people a day are being transferred to detention centres across France, after being arrested at crossing points and in Calais town. At the moment it is unclear for how long this operation is going to continue.
Much of the focus of this operation seems to be to harass as many people as possible. Most people are being released after a few days, left to make the long journey back to Calais, where they can try and cross again. People inside are being put under a lot of pressure to give their fingerprints in France.
This dispersal is happening out of Marck airfield.
Mass Dispersal to Temporary Housing Centres across France
This week around 700 people have been transferred, in a media spectacle, to temporary accommodation centres in different points across France. Up to 300 left, with very little notice,on Monday and up to 450 more left on Friday. This process was not announced publicly beforehand.
The people who moved were people who had not received accommodation in France yet, both asylum seekers with an ongoing process or those with Dublin fingerprints (who normally don’t receive access to accommodation), as well as people who were yet to claim. People had signed up on a list in the Jules Ferry centre saying they wanted a house, and are informed the night before their departure where their destination is by lists put up in the jungle.
We have heard from many people that they are not happy with what has happened, some are expected to come back to Calais. One issue is the timing, and the lack of explanation that people have received about th e process, for example they don’t know whether their asylum process will continue in Calais or will be transferred to nearer their accommodation. And the other really serious issue is the type of ‘houses’ that are being provided.
They are temporary reception centres set up in very small villages across France. Most of them are incredibly far from the nearest big town or city. Some of the accommodation are warehouses with many beds inside, some are places that is normally used to keep those at threat of deportation under house arrest. In one place the roof of one accommodation was occupied by fascists protesting against refugees arriving.
To be clear, this isn’t a gesture of good will from the French government. This is the French government doing something that they should already be doing, providing housing for those in the asylum process. And it is them doing it very badly.
Building of the New Camp inside the Jungle
The government has committed to building a new camp, inside the existing area of the jungle. This will provide space for 1,500. Considering also the commitment of the government to make 200 new spaces for women and children, alongside the existing spaces inside the Jules Ferry Centre. This is accounting for all of the 2,000 migrants that are going to be tolerated in Calais past January.
But what of the rest of the jungle? The logical continuation, for us, would be that the intention is for the autonomous parts of the jungle to be emptied. Whether or not this will involve a big police eviction depends it seems on the ‘success’ of their other talked about in this post.
Many of the details about the new camp are being kept under wraps, in terms of the details about how it will work. How much control there will be, whether people have to be claiming asylum in France to have a space, etc. It is likely to be a combination of the government not wanting to be honest about their intentions for this camp, or a failure of La Vie Active to actually know what they are doing (which seemed to be the case when they opened the women’s house earlier in the year, they hadn’t actually spent time thinking about how it would work).
For us it seems that this camp would be subject to a large amount of control, has in most ‘official’ association camps in Europe and outside. Also considering the current behaviour of the police in the jungle, and La Vie Active in the day centre. We also believe that at some point this camp will only be avaliable for those who are claiming asylum in France, even if this is not true straight away.
However it will work, the creation of the new camp is going to start with the forced removal (either psychological or physical force) of around 400 people, to start with. People were told they had to move from the proposed site by Sunday evening. It is unclear when this would be physical enforced if people refuse to move.
Cutting off humanitarian support and solidarity for the jungle
As we posted the other day, this police have been enforcing a vehicle blockade of the jungle since last Sunday. Limiting access to just officially recognised association vehicles. They have also on occasion tried to limit supporters entering the jungle on foot. When asked the police are refusing to show any paperwork of the legality of this.
This move is both cutting of access to the solidarity movement that is supporting and spending time with people in the jungle. But also the age old method of trying to empty Calais, if we prevent humanitarian aid and the acquisition of possessions and food, people will not want to stay in Calais.
An overarching theme of all of these tactics, seems to be to force (although the government would probably say encourage), everyone in Calais to claim asylum in France. We absolutely condemn this.
We condemn an attempt to restrict people’s choose and autonomy in moving and going to where they want.
A humanitarian cloak is being pulled over people’s eyes. This new accommodation either in the jungle or elsewhere in France is not good enough. It is being provided to avoid a scandal for the reputation of the current government and to more easily isolate and target those who want to live outside the asylum system or travel to the UK. If it was a genuine move to provide decent living situations, it would not look like this. It wouldn’t come with an accompanying stick of increased detention, deportation and police violence. Decent housing is more than a roof, especially if the roof has fascists on it.
The motivation for all this is to clear Calais by any means necessary.
Cazeneuve’s offical statement about Calais:
Statement from La Cimade, an association that supports refugees in detention, denouncing the mass arrests:
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