Category: News – English
Against pushbacks in the Aegean – an animation // Contre les refoulements en mer Égée – une animation
This is a short animation (3.47mins) based on refugee accounts of pushbacks in the Agean. This video is free to share with anyone trying to fight pushbacks. More information[EN] on pushbacks[EN] in the Aegean sea[FR].
Contre les refoulements en mer égée – une animation
Voici une courte animation (3,47 minutes) basée sur des témoignages de réfugié-es refoulé-es dans la mer Égée. Cette vidéo est à partager avec toutes les personnes qui essaient de lutter contre les
refoulements. Plus d’informations[EN] sur les refoulements[EN] en mer Égée[FR].
Calais: after the Jungle – an interview with Calais Migrant Solidarity, June 2019
In 2016, the northern French port town of Calais was all over the TV screens, as an army of Gendarmes and CRS riot police evicted the “Jungle”[*] – a largely self-built refugee camp where about 6,000 exiles from the world’s war zones lived in sight of the razor wire border fences. But Calais’ refugee story goes back much further, and it’s not over yet. Hundreds of refugees are still gathered around the main channel crossing point, living in even more miserable and precarious conditions now the big jungle is gone. To get a snapshot of the current situation Corporate Watch talked to friends from Calais Migrant Solidarity, a network that has been active alongside migrants in Calais since 2009.
See also: Calais border profiteers update June 2019
How many people are still trying to cross the border at Calais? Where do they come from?
In Calais itself, maybe around 500 people. It fluctuates a lot, so perhaps between 300 and 600 people at any time. But then there are also hundreds more people further along the coast at Dunkerques, and all the way towards Belgium.
In Calais the nationalities of people follow the same patterns – we’re talking about people from war zones and dictatorships, where those countries have a historical connection to British colonialism. So people may speak English, or have family connections, or may have grown up with some idea of the UK as a safe haven and a beacon of democracy. Many Afghans, Iraqis, Iranians, Kurds, Eritreans, Sudanese, and also a few others now from as far as Nigeria, Chad and other places.
There are not so many children and women now, and those that do turn up are often sheltered by charities. There are more families in Dunkerques, where there is a more sympathetic mayor who provides a gym building where vulnerable people are allowed to stay. There are maybe 300 people living inside that, including at least 30 families (about 100 people), and maybe around 100 unaccompanied minors. And around another 300 people living in tents near the gym, which are more or less tolerated by the authorities. A lot of these are Kurdish people from all countries – Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. Then there are also more informal Pakistani and Afghani settlements in the woods outside Dunkerques, which are treated much worse and attacked on a daily basis by the police, as in Calais.
And do people still manage to cross?
Yes, of course. But the massive securitisation in recent years has meant that people need to travel farther and take ever greater risks.
Hence the recent boat crossings that have made the headlines?
They can’t make a fence in the middle of the sea. People always find ways round fences, under or over, and crossing the channel is one of the latest and most visible ways people have been trying. It is extremely dangerous, particularly for the high traffic. But the UK is actually visible from Calais. People have travelled thousands of miles to get here, often risking their lives many times, then they see the cliffs of Dover in the distance, and they’re not going to stop.
The boats are so far mainly organised by smugglers who charge a lot of money for places. But there have also been some individuals trying to cross on makeshift rafts, like the guy without an engine who was washed as far as the Netherlands. People like that aren’t even able to buy a life jacket –there have been reported cases where shops refused to sell lifejackets to people, asked to see their papers and threatened to call the police. Of course this doesn’t hurt the organised smugglers, but it makes the attempted crossing even more hazardous for individuals trying to make it themselves.
So what is daily life like now for people trying to cross the border in Calais?
Basically, the authorities have pretty much succeeded now in clearing people out of the town centre, and also stopping them from creating any stable settlement like the old jungle. So people are scattered and hidden in very precarious camps outside of the town. People still talk about the “jungles”, but that means just a few tents hidden in the bushes. The old jungle site has been turned into a nature reserve of sand dunes and swamps. Other more habitable areas nearby, of woodland and fields, have been fenced off to prevent people living there.
The camps are clustered around three main sites along the highway: the roundabout by the hospital, the roundabout by the stadium, and the turn-off close to the old jungle. The state has now set up official amenities at these three spots – water points, toilet cubicles, and a few showers. This came after a long struggle and a court case taken by individuals without papers, supported by volunteers, with lawyers from Paris who had worked on case against the jungle demolition.
The facilities are provided by La Vie Active, the same NGO that ran official services at the old jungle and container camp. These official spots also act as distribution points where the associations (charities) come at a set time with vans to give out food, clothes and so on.
One point we should maybe note here. While it’s no doubt unwitting, the associations running these van distributions help the authorities’ policy of keeping migrants segregated outside the town. In the past, the town hall hated that migrants came into the town for the food distribution, or to get clothes from the church “vestiaire”, or medical treatment from the main clinics. Having all these services delivered away in the woods certainly helps whitewash the migrants out of Calais.
Pic: a field where people had been camping now fenced off
What do the police do?
Apart from guarding the fences, the police also focus on the three distribution points. They come almost every morning to those areas. Sometimes they just park up and stay there by the distribution points for a few hours, sitting in their vans or standing outside. This intimidates people and scares them from settling. Then, when they get the order, they attack the camps. They work with the prefecture authorities who send their “cleaners” – employees who pick up the tents and people’s belongings. Apart from stealing tents and personal affects, the police like to spray tear gas. This is pretty much like the old days in Calais before the big jungle was allowed in 2015.
Also, of course, they patrol the crossing points along the highway. When they catch people trying to cross they sometimes arrest them and bring them to the detention centre in Coquelles. Sometimes they put people in the van but don’t head for Coquelles. Instead they drive some miles out along the highway and just dump people in the middle of nowhere.
But often they just spray tear gas and chase people away. Sometimes they beat people up, using batons and kicks. Also, there is a lot of verbal abuse and intimidation. People complain a lot about the verbal insults – you dirty nigger, you black dog, etc. People find this particularly demeaning and somehow shocking. It’s as if maybe you expect the police to use a bit of force to clear you away from the fences, but the insults show they’re not just “doing their job”, they’re really revelling in their violence.
Do the police arrest people away from the fences too, like when they used to patrol around the town and just round anyone up who looks like a migrant?
This happens less than it did before 2015. People feel fairly safe during the day. In the night, it’s more common. The police will drive around in vans and pick up people they see walking from the jungles to the town, or walking back from the detention centre at Coquelles. We still have that thing where people get arrested and taken to Coquelles, then released and are arrested again when they’re walking back from detention. But on the whole, those kind of random controls are not so much the police’s main focus now as they were in the past.
What is the effect of all these attacks on people? Do they actually deter people from crossing?
No, as we said, people have travelled thousands of miles and gone through a great deal to get to Calais. They are not going to give up now.
But what we do see is the very real effects of all this constant harassment on people’s mental health. I think this has really got worse. There are ever more fences and walls, its ever harder to live, as well as get to crossing places. And people are chased relentlessly, like vermin. Forced out of the town, forced to hide and disappear. And the verbal abuse and intimidation compound that.
As it gets harder to cross, people may stay a lot longer around Calais than before. You also see an increasing number of people who have already been on the road for years, maybe they have already been refused asylum in other European countries, so they come here, seeing the UK as their last hope. This can lead to big problems with alcohol and drugs, and makes people vulnerable to traffickers and others willing to profit from their distress.
Image: one of the many former squats called “Africa House”, 2011
You said the authorities have largely succeeded in clearing people out of the town centre. Before 2015, a lot of people used to live in the town in empty buildings – both the officially-recognised squats that CMS helped to create, as well as informal occupations that were more vulnerable to police attacks. Is that no longer possible?
Well, certainly there are no “official” squats now in Calais at all. Any recent attempts to open them have been shut down straight away by the police, whatever the law might say. That’s not to say it’s impossible to do again. But there haven’t been people in Calais really concentrating on trying to do that.
As for unofficial squats, people may shelter in buildings and survive if they keep hidden or are in very small groups that don’t attract attention. The town hall and police deny the presence of any “illegals” in the town, so they may prefer not to move against small groups that stay largely unnoticed. But there are no big or visible squats like in the past. These would be shut down immediately.
There was a massive surge of aid and support organisations, mainly from the UK, into Calais in 2015-16. Has this kept up, or have the charities left now that Calais is no longer in the headlines?
Many of them stayed. This is a big difference from before 2015 – the presence of still quite large numbers of humanitarians, professionals and volunteers, particularly from abroad. However, they haven’t really adapted their infrastructure or approaches so much after the closure of the big jungle.
There are still two big distribution warehouses in Calais. One is run by Care for Calais, which distributes mainly clothes, tents, sleeping bags, hygiene items. They also now work beyond Calais, taking stuff as far as Paris. The other warehouse is run by the French association L’Auberge des Migrants and the British charity Help Refugees. In the same building there is also the Calais Refugee Community Kitchen (RCK), which cooks and distributes food.
Help Refugees was a big player in the jungle, after raising possibly millions from donations in the UK. This gave it a lot of power to set the agenda, as many other associations came to rely on it for funding. Now Help Refugees is quitting its direct presence in Calais, but will continue to act as a foundation funding other groups.
There is also Utopia, which managed the former camp in Dunkerques, then turned to litter picking in the jungle, and now distributes clothes, food, and other items.
One of the most interesting developments has been the new day centre run by the Catholic charity, Secours Catholique. This is a big purpose-built centre in the town, on Rue du Moscou towards the port. It’s open Monday to Friday until 5pm and has lots of activities like language classes, clothes mending, and even a radio station. There are water points and toilets, meeting rooms, and a big space where people hang out, charge phones, use wifi, drink tea and play board games.
One thing that’s interesting about the day centre is that it’s right on the corner of Rue de Cronstadt, the street where CMS rented a warehouse and opened it as a social centre back in 2010. That was shut down within days by riot police using a dubious health and safety excuse. What do you think when you see Secours Catholique running a centre there now?
Of course, the Catholic church is a lot more respectable and powerful than we were. But it’s an interesting indication of how the political landscape has shifted in Calais. In 2010, it would have been unthinkable for the church to support a project like that, let alone organise it themselves. CMS tried twice to open legal centres, the “Zetkin centre” as well as Rue de Cronstadt, besides the numerous squats. Both received an immediate response from the state. It was clear that a social centre open to migrants in the town was a serious challenge to the town authorities, and they wouldn’t tolerate it. It’s interesting to think about how this has changed – whether the authorities are not so scared of a place like that now, or the official charities are willing to push further.
As for the Secours Catholique centre, it’s far from perfect, but it is a space of possibilities. And, interestingly, they do seem to be working in a way that is less patronising, less of a giver/receiver relationship, than some other charity attempts in Calais. They allow people to use the space in their own ways. And, as opposed to other associations, most of the people volunteering there are long-term Calais residents, including refugees who have settled in the town. The space is also used by groups like the Legal Shelter that collects testimonies of police violence or accompanies people on asylum claims.
It seems like quite a few of the main public roles of CMS, like running social centres or tracking police violence, are being carried out by more official organisations now. What do you think about that? And what role does CMS have to play now?
Yes, it’s true. Again, it’s interesting to think about how the landscape has shifted, about what’s seen as radical and unacceptable by the authorities and the charities, and what’s considered normal or acceptable. For instance, CMS were the first in Calais to really talk about and document state violence, with the “This Border Kills” dossier in 2010. That was seen as a radical move, few of the associations would go anywhere near it. Also, we were the first to open a squat dedicated to housing women and children. Now everyone agrees with challenging police violence, and everyone agrees with providing accommodation for women – if not everyone else.
But still there’s a big difference between our approach and how the charities work. You can talk about people’s miserable conditions of life. But why are those problems there in the first place? Why are the police going round beating people up in Calais, why are people hiding in tents in the woods?
It’s because of the border. These problems will exist, in one form or another, so long as the border exists. That is: so long as people facing bombs and exploitation in Africa and Asia try to get to the rich world that’s sending the bombs, and so long as our politicians and police try to keep them out. But, maybe apart from a few slogans on a demo now and then, the charities don’t mention the border.
So some of the actions, like making accommodation or a social centre, may be similar. But we also have to think about the wider repercussions, the meanings of these actions. First of all, do they bring people together – people with or without official papers, people from Calais and people from far away? Ideally on a basis of equality, not just giving and receiving, but sharing and making a struggle together. And do they challenge the silence of the border, help force into the open those questions the authorities are so keen to hide?
Since CMS started ten years ago in 2009, you could say we’ve been causing trouble by challenging the authorities’ attempt to whitewash the town and the border. They have a vision of a clean white town – ethnic French people and British tourists shopping happily in shiny corporate malls. Hence all the efforts to push migrants out of the town, keep them hidden in the bushes. Whereas in reality, most of Calais is a boarded up ghost town, with very many white Calaisiens also living in poverty. The right-wing, anti-migrant politics hasn’t done anything to address that, just provided a scapegoat.
At least some of us in CMS have had a different vision of what Calais could be. Imagine a town where people with and without papers, French or migrant, meet each other freely, share experiences and creativity. Making projects together that could help bring the town back to life. And helping each other fight our common enemies.
Notes
Drawings by Carrie Mackinnon
[*] The word «jungle» is the term still widely used by migrants in Calais for camps in the woods outside the town. It was used long before 2015, including for the major Afghan jungle in 2009-10. It comes from the farsi and pashto word for forest جنگل (jangal).
Briançon. La frontière tue. La militarisation est son arme. / Chronique d’une mort annoncée.
Nous transmettons ces deux communiqués reçus du Refuge autogéré “Chez Jesus” – https://www.facebook.com/Chez-Jesus-Rifugio-Autogestito-362786637540072/
Autres sources d’information :
Version en italien ci-dessous.
Une femme est morte. Un cadavre sans nom a été retrouvé mercredi près du barrage de Prelles, dans la Durance, la rivière qui traverse Briançon.
Une femme noire, sans papiers, dont personne n’a déclaré la disparition. Un corps sans vie et sans nom, comme les milliers qui sont retrouvés dans le fond de la Méditerranée.
Cette mort n’est pas une disgrâce inattendue, ce n’est pas un hasard. La montagne, la neige et le froid n’ont rien à voir là-dedans.
Cette mort a été annoncée par l’hiver qui vient de passer, par la militarisation qui, ces derniers mois sévit dans ces montagnes et par les dizaines des personnes hospitalisées après les blessures causées par leur fuite vers la France. C’est une conséquence inévitable de la politique de fermeture de la frontière et de la militarisation.
Ce décès n’est pas une fatalité. C’est un homicide, avec des mandataires et des complices bien faciles à identifier.
En premier lieu les gouvernements, leur politique de fermeture de la frontière, et chaque personne qui la soutient.
Gendarmes, police de l’air et des frontières, chasseurs alpins, et maintenant ces ridicules néofascistes de Génération Identitaire, qui patrouillent sur les chemins et les routes pour partir à la chasse aux migrants qui cherchent un passage par ces cols. Ils traquent sur les sentiers et dans la neige avec des motoneiges ; les attendent dans la voiture, à l’affut, sur les routes qui amènent à Briançon et celles du centre-ville. Beaucoup des cas cet hiver de personnes blessées et conduites à l’hôpital font suite à des chutes dues aux fuites consécutives aux contrôles de police.
Cette femme-là n’est qu’une des dizaines d’exilés qui, chaque jour, cherchent à aller en France pour continuer leur vie. Pour ce faire, elle a dû traverser à pied dans la neige, cette ligne imaginaire qu’ils appellent frontière. En effet, la possibilité de voyager par des moyens de transports sûrs lui a été refusée parce qu’elle ne disposait pas de papiers en règle et par la politique raciste de contrôle qui actent à la frontière. Après elle doit être descendue sur la route, parcourir les 17 kilomètres qui la séparaient de la ville. C’est pendant ce long trajet qu’elle doit être tombée sur un blocage de la police, comme les personnes refoulées le racontent souvent. Le groupe avec lequel elle était, qui comme elle essayait de traverser la frontière s’est probablement dispersé à la vue de la Police ou de la Gendarmerie qui traquent les indésirables pour les attraper et les ramener en Italie : l’habituel jeu de l’oie cette fois a tué.
Cette femme sans nom doit avoir glissé alors qu’elle essayait de s’échapper et de se cacher, tuée par les contrôles policiers. L’autopsie qui aura lieu à Grenoble dans la journée de lundi nous permettra d’avoir des détails précis sur la cause de sa mort.
La frontière sépare et tue.
N’oublions pas qui sont les responsables.
11 mai, Refuge autogéré Chez Jesus
Chronique d’une mort annoncée
Une semaine est passée depuis la mort de B. Cinq jours depuis que le cadavre d’une jeune femme « peut-être migrante » a été retrouvé, dans le fleuve qui passe sous Briançon, la Durance.
Voici les faits.
Un groupe d’une petite dizaine de personnes part de Clavière pour rejoindre Briançon à pied. Nous sommes dimanche soir, et comme chaque nuit les exilé·e·s qui tentent d’arriver en France se trouvent obligé·e·s d’éviter la route autant que possible et de passer par la montagne pour éviter les contrôles d’identité.
Le groupe commence son chemin, et puis se sépare : la femme a des difficultés à marcher et a besoin d’aide et de soutien. Deux personnes restent avec elle, et les trois se détachent du groupe. Ils marchent sur la route, en se cachant dès qu’ils aperçoivent des lumières de phares ou entendent des bruits.
La police a mis en place une véritable chasse aux migrant·e·s, plus féroce que jamais ces derniers jours. Ils se cachent sur les sentiers, pour surprendre, torches en main, ceux qui tentent la traversée, et font des rondes en voiture sur les routes. Ils se postent aussi aux entrées de Briançon, et à côté des carrefours, mettant en place de réels postes de blocage.
Les trois personnes marchent pendant une quinzaine de kilomètres et se trouve à 4 ou 5 kilomètres de Briançon. A la hauteur de la Vachette, cinq agents de la police nationale les attendent. Ils surgissent de derrière les arbres à gauche de la route. Il est entre quatre et cinq heure du matin, Lundi 7 Mai. Les policiers se mettent à leur courir après. Le groupe se met en fuite, et entre dans le village de la Vachette. Un des trois réussit à se cacher, et les deux autres, un homme et une femme, courent sur la route. L’homme court plus vite, il cherche à attirer la police, qui parvient à l’attraper et le ramène directement en Italie.
La femme, elle, disparaît.
La police continue ses recherches dans le village de la Vachette pendant quatre heures. La rivière est en crue, et la police concentre ses recherches sur les rives de la Durance et autour du pont. Puis ils s’en vont. Cette façon de faire est tout à fait différents des pratiques habituelles de la police, pendant ces nuits de contrôle : en général, après avoir attrapé quelques personnes, ils ne recherchent les fugitifs et fugitives restant·e·s que pendant quelques dizaines de minutes.
Les recherches concentrées dans la zone du fleuve indiquent clairement que les policiers avaient compris que quelque chose de très grave avait eu lieu.
50 heures plus tard, Mercredi 9 Mai, un cadavre de femme est retrouvé bloqué à la digue de Prelles, à 10 km au Sud de Briançon. Il s’agit d’une femme d’1 mètre 60, aux longs cheveux noirs tressés. Des cicatrices sur le dos, un collier serti d’une pierre bleue.
Le Procureur de la République de Gap, Raphaël Balland, a annoncé la nouvelle le jour suivant, en précisant que « Cette découverte ne correspond à aucune disparition inquiétante. Pour le moment, nous n’avons aucun élément qui nous permette d’identifier la personne et donc de dire si il s’agit d’une personne migrante ».
Lourde déclaration du procureur. Les disparitions de personnes exilées ne sont donc pas inquiétantes, sous prétexte qu’on ne les signale pas ? Les soutiens de B. étaient au contraire très inquiets : mais comment se tourner vers la police pour déclarer des disparus, quand ils risquent d’être maltraités, et leurs soutiens réprimés ?
De plus, le procureur ment, car la police savait qu’une femme avait disparu après une poursuite.
Très peu de journaux ont relevé la nouvelle. Il semblerait que personne n’ait souhaité publier celle-ci. L’intérêt est d’ensevelir cette histoire, pour éviter un scandale face aux violences policières. Deux cas de femmes enceintes refoulées avaient déclenché des réactions publiques en mars dernier.
Une enquête judiciaire a été ouverte et confiée à la gendarmerie afin de déterminer les circonstances du décès. Le magistrat a annoncé que « n’ayant pas d’éléments qui font penser à la nature criminelle du décès, une enquête a été ouverte pour déterminer les causes de la mort ». Mais cela aussi est faux. La nature du décès est criminelle.
Ce n’est pas une mort accidentelle, ce n’est pas une erreur. Ceci est un homicide. Celui d’une jeune femme nigérianne de 21 ans.
Cinq policiers les ont poursuivis. Cette femme, B, est morte à cause d’eux et de la politique qui dirige, contrôle et légitime leurs actions.
B. est morte parce que la frontière ne peut pas être traversée en sécurité par les personnes sans papiers.
B. n’est pas morte à cause de la montagne, par erreur, elle n’est pas morte dans la neige cet hiver. Elle est morte parce qu’elle était en train d’essayer d’échapper à la police, qui s’adonne de façon toujours plus violente à la chasse aux migrant·e·s.
Elle a été tuée par ces cinq agents, comme le système de la frontière le leur ordonne.
Il s’agit d’un homicide avec des mandataires et des exécutants. Le Procureur de Gap et la préfète sont autant responsables que les policiers qui l’ont tuée, compte tenu des directives assassines qu’ils donnent.
Les responsables sont aussi la magistrature et le tribunal, qui criminalisent les solidaires qui cherchent à éviter ces morts en rendant la traversée la plus sûre possible. Les responsables sont tous les politiciens qui fondent leur campagne électorale sur la différence de couleur de peau et de nationalité des personnes.
Si cela continue, les morts se multiplieront.
14 maggio, Rifugio Autogestito Chez Jesus
En italien
La frontiera uccide – La militarizzazione è la sua arma.
Una donna è morta. Un cadavere ancora senza nome è stato ritrovato mercoledì all’altezza della diga di Prelles, nella Durance, il fiume che scorre attraverso Briançon.
Una donna dalla pelle nera, nessun documento, nessun appello alla scomparsa, un corpo senza vita e senza nome, come le migliaia che si trovano sul fondo del Mediterraneo.
Questa morte non è una disgrazia inaspettata, non è un caso, non è “strana” per tanti e tante. Non c’ entra la montagna, né la neve o il freddo.
Questa morte è stata annunciata dall’inverno appena passato, dalla militarizzazione che in questi mesi si è vista su queste montagne e dalle decine di persone finite in ospedale per le ferite procuratesi nella loro fuga verso la Francia. È una conseguenza inevitabile della politica di chiusura della frontiera e della militarizzazione.
Questa morte non è una fatalità. È un omicidio, con mandanti e complici ben facili da individuare.
In primis i governi e le loro politiche di chiusura della frontiera, e ogni uomo e donna in divisa che le porta avanti. Gendarmi, polizia di frontiera, chasseurs alpins, e ora pure quei ridicoli neofascisti di Géneration Idéntitaire, pattugliano i sentieri e le strade a caccia dei migranti di passaggio da questi valichi alpini. Li inseguono sui sentieri e nella neve sulle motoslitte; li attendono in macchina in agguato lungo la strada che porta a Briançon e quelle del centro città. Molti i casi quest’inverno di persone ferite e finite all’ospedale in seguito alle cadute dovute alle fughe dalla polizia.
Quella donna era una delle decine di migranti che ogni giorno tentano di andare in Francia per continuare la propria vita. Per farlo, ha dovuto attraversare nella neve, a piedi, quella linea immaginaria che chiamano frontiera. Perché i mezzi di trasporto, sicuri, le erano preclusi data la mancanza di documenti e per la politica razziale di controllo che attuano al confine. Poi è scesa sulla strada, quei 17 chilometri che devono percorrere a piedi per raggiungere la città. È lungo quel tratto che deve essere inceppata in un blocco della polizia, come spesso viene raccontato dalle persone respinte. Probabilmente il gruppo di persone con cui era, che come lei tentava di attraversare il confine, si è disperso alla vista di Polizia o Gendarmerie alla ricerca di indesiderati da acchiappare e riportare in Italia, nel solito gioco dell’oca che questa volta ha ucciso.
Questa donna senza nome deve essere scivolata nel fiume mentre tentava di scappare e nascondersi, uccisa dai controlli poliziesci. L’ autopsia avverà a Grenoble nella giornata di lunedì, solo allora sarà possibile avere maggiori dettagli sulla causa della morte.
La frontiera separa e uccide.
Non dimentichiamo chi sono i responsabili.
11 maggio, Rifugio autogestito Chez Jesus
Cronache di una morte annunciata
È passata una settimana dalla morte di B. Cinque giorni dal ritrovamento del cadavere di una giovane donna, “forse una migrante”, nel fiume sotto Briançon, la Durance.
Questi i fatti.
Un gruppo di quasi una decina di persone parte da Claviere per raggiungere Briançon a piedi. È domenica sera, e come ogni notte i migranti che cercano di arrivare in Francia si ritrovano costretti a camminare per le montagne per evitare i controlli di documenti.
Il gruppo inizia il cammino e poi si divide, una donna fa fatica a camminare ed ha bisogno di supporto. Due persone stanno con lei, e i tre si staccano dal gruppo. Camminano sulla strada, nascondendosi alla luce dei fari di ogni macchina e a ogni rumore. Infatti la polizia sta attuando una vera caccia al migrante, negli ultimi giorni più che mai. Oltre a nascondersi sui sentieri per sorprendere con le torce chi di passaggio e fare le ronde con le macchine sulla strada, hanno iniziato ad appostarsi sempre più spesso agli ingressi di Briançon e ai lati dei carrefour facendo dei veri posti di blocco.
Il gruppo di tre cammina per una quindicina di chilometri e si trova a 4-5 Km da Briançon. All’altezza della Vachette, cinque agenti della Police National sbucano fuori dagli alberi alla sinistra della strada. Sono le 4-5 del mattino di lunedì 7 maggio. I poliziotti iniziano a rincorrerli. Il gruppetto corre e entra nel paesino della Vachette. Uno dei tre si nasconde; gli altri due, un uomo e una donna, corrono sulla strada. L’uomo corre più veloce, cerca di attirare la polizia, che riesce a prenderlo e lo riporta in Italia diretto. La donna scompare.
La polizia prosegue per altre quattro ore le ricerche nel paesino della Vachette. Il fiume è in piena, e i poliziotti concentrano le ricerche sulle sponde della Durance e nella zona del ponte. Poi la Police se n’è andata. Questo operato si discosta totalmente dalle modalità abituali della Police Nationale, che nella prassi cerca i fuggitivi per non più di qualche decina di minuti. Le ricerche concentrate nella zona del fiume rendono chiaro che i poliziotti avessero compreso che qualcosa di molto grave era successo, a causa loro.
50 ore dopo, mercoledì, un cadavere di una donna viene ritrovato bloccato alla diga di Prelles, a 10 km a sud da Briançon. È una donna nigeriana, un metro e sessanta, capelli lunghi scuri con treccine. Cicatrici sulla schiena, una collana con una pietra blu.
Il Procureur della Repubblica di Gap, Raphael Balland, ha dato la notizia il giorno seguente, dicendo che “Questa scoperta non corrisponde a una scomparsa inquietante. Per il momento, non abbiamo nessun elemento che ci permette di identificare la persona e quindi di dire che si tratta di una persona migrante”. Pesanti le dichiarazioni del procuratore. Una scomparsa “non è inquietante” se non c’è una denuncia, e quindi se si tratta di una migrante? In più il procuratore mente, perché la polizia sapeva che una donna era sparita dopo un inseguimento. Ben pochi i giornali che hanno rilevato la notizia. Sembra che nessuno fosse molto interessato a far uscire la vicenda, anzi. L’interesse è quello di insabbiare questa storia, per evitare un ulteriore scandalo, dopo i due casi di respingimento di donne incinte, che possa scatenare una reazione pubblica davanti alle violenze della polizia. Un’inchiesta giudiziaria è stata aperta e affidata alla gendarmeria al fine di determinare le circostanze del decesso. Il magistrato ha detto “non avendo elementi che fanno pensare alla natura criminale del decesso, un’inchiesta è stata aperta per determinare le cause della morte”.
Ma anche questo è falso. La natura del decesso è criminale.
Non è una morte casuale, non è un errore. Questo è omicidio. Erano cinque i poliziotti che li hanno inseguiti. Quella donna, B, è morta per causa loro e della politica di leggi che dirige, controlla e legittima le loro azioni. B. è morta perché la frontiera senza documenti non la passi in altro modo. Ma B. non è nemmeno morta a causa della montagna, per errore, e non è morta per la neve quest’inverno. È morta perché stava scappando dalla polizia che in modo sempre più violento si dà alla caccia al migrante. L’hanno uccisa quei cinque agenti, come il sistema di leggi che glielo ordina. Un omicidio con dei mandanti e degli esecutori. Il procuratore di Gap e la prefetto sono responsabili quanto i poliziotti che l’hanno uccisa, date le direttive assassine che danno. Responsabili sono le procure e i tribunali, che criminalizzano i solidali che cercano di evitare queste morti rendendo il più sicuro possibile il passaggio. Responsabili sono tutti i politicanti che portano avanti la loro campagna elettorale sulla pelle delle persone.
Se continuiamo così, i morti aumenteranno. È la militarizzazione che mette in pericolo le persone. La polizia, uccide.
14 maggio, Rifugio Autogestito Chez Jesus
300 march across the Italian border at Montgenevre
From comrades in Valsusa:
CROSSING THE BORDER – MARCH AGAINST THE FRONTIERS
Yesterday 22 April 300 people left Claviere, a small town in the Susa valley in the Italian Alps, to cross the border with France. The morning started with a meeting and discussion on “The Alps, the borders and resistance”, and then a shared lunch outside the self-managed Refuge Chez Jesus, a church hall occupied as a centre of solidarity with migrants. Then after the lunch we gathered, both migrants and people in solidarity, to cross the border together.
We walked together on the road that leads from Claviere, to Briançon on the French side. We were responding to the militarisation that in recent days has seen the border become completely blocked. But also to answer the action of the neo-fascists of “Génération Idéntitaire” who on Saturday mounted their own border post at the Colle della Scala pass. If the military and fascists want to block the borders, we will continue to fight to break them down.
In this last week, with the end of the tourist season, the Italian-French frontier of Montgenèvre has dropped its image of a ski resort to become a destination for dozens of soldiers here to train in the war hunting for migrants. These nights have seen serious ambushes in the woods against migrants by the military and gendarmes. The many attacks have meant dozens of people have become stuck in the Chez Jesus shelter, unable to pass the border. This, together with the neo-fascist presence at Colle della Scala, has led us to come together in numbers to break the blockade of those who are not welcome.
Yesterday we walked for 19 kilometers both on the mountain path and on the road. We resisted the attempts of the French police to interrupt our march, determined to reach the goal. We arrived in Briançon in the afternoon, 300 of us entering the city with choruses and slogans against borders, fascists and police checks. For once, no one was forced to hide in the night and the snow, to walk many miles only to be turned back by the police.
Our arrival in Briançon was the end of a good day of struggle. At six o’clock in the afternoon we arrived in the center of Briançon and the celebrations began.
At this moment, though, the police started their manhunt. We learnt that nine protesters were stopped in small groups when they were far from the main demonstration. The police stopped them on the pavement, put them against the walls, handcuffed them and took them away. Four people were released this morning. All the others are still in custody. The gendarmes also tried to take another comrade, who was knocked to the ground and beaten. Fortunately other comrades came to his aid and put an end to the attack.
The border is made up of uniforms, batons, tools to identify and select people. It is up to us to find the mechanism of this gear, and so destroy it.
We want the immediate release of all the comrades arrested.
The border is just an imaginary line. As we showed yesterday, it does not exist if we organise together to fight it.
FREEDOM FOR ALL THE ARRESTED COMRADES
Fuel
How to (nearly) incite a riot: Lessons from the French police in the Jungle
On Tuesday the Calais police made a dangerous move to fuel violence in an already-tense moment in the Jungle. If violence erupts, the state will have the blood on their hands. For now, the communities in the Jungle have refused to rise to the bait.
On Monday night, conflict broke out on the motorway near Marck, between predominantly Afghan and Sudanese groups attempting to make the crossing to the UK. The police were called in with water cannons to disperse the crowd. In the course of the evening, 15 Sudanese were hospitalised and one was killed. The exact circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear.
On Tuesday, a gang of at least 20 cops – some CRS, some Police Judiciare – entered the Jungle at approximately 6pm. They marched to the intersection on the main road where the Sudanese and Afghan neighbourhoods meet, held formation, weapons ready, and seemed to post a single photo on the wall of a building.
The photo was apparently a close-up image of the man who had been killed the night before. Dead.
The police stood in formation and watched, with one filming those passing by. They then marched through the Jungle, concealing themselves in the La Vie Active container park, surrounded by fences and private security. Before leaving, one of the Policia Judiciare, having his unmarked car filmed by an activist, physically grabbed and threatened the activist, while a colleague threateningly told them to ‘Take care.’
Once the police were gone, tensions began to rise. The conversations spread throughout the Jungle like wildfire. The usual groups of twos and threes on the main road were replaced by bigger groups – five, ten, fifteen, mostly divided by nationality.
The outrage in the Sudanese quarter was palpable. One of their brothers had been killed the night before, and the police had piled insult and disrespect onto the tragedy, by photographing the deceased and then posting the photo in the middle of a public place, like a looming threat or a game trophy to be paraded through the streets.
Africans of different nationalities began to group together and Afghans with cricket bats, pipes and planks of wood began to fill the streets, milling about, as tensions rose.
Remarkably, the afternoon ended in relative calm, though the possibility of violence has far from gone. Several reports have said that community leaders managed to defuse tensions before they erupted into serious violence. While the ongoing tensions between different communities in the Jungle are constantly exacerbated by the state, via evictions and the resulting overcrowding, the police intervention surrounding this murder seemed deeply irresponsible at best, and outright criminal at worst.
Whatever the circumstances surrounding this man’s death, to post a photo of a dead body in a public place, at the geographic juncture between the two primary communities involved, is an insult to the deceased and to the community. It is also an incitement to violence.
Like spreading rumours to stoke existing tensions, the police’s move appears to have been aimed at inciting violence in the Jungle, as happened in February. After the photo posting, they left and were not to be seen. They chucked a match into the petrol and then walked away.
The lack of violence following the death of the Sudanese man and the following instigations by the police, is a testament to a collective maturity winning out in the Jungle under massively unfavourable circumstances. The actions of the police provided more than the kindling, but also the spark for a wildfire that very nearly was. Even before the police arrived, violence between communities was a very-real possibility; after their intervention, it seemed almost inevitable. Yet the moment passed.
Of course, the police will deny any ill-intent, and argue that they were simply investigating the death of the night before and searching for witnesses or new information. But such tactics must not be allowed to pass unnoticed. The police and the prefecture know that clearing the Jungle faces many obstacles, from both the people living there, as well as the political fall-out of the heavy-handed action that a major eviction would inevitably require.
If the boiling anger of 9,000 people living in often-subhuman conditions can be used as a tool to either destroy parts of the Jungle itself (through riots and arson, etc), or as a pretext for escalating police violence, then the police will surely do their best to exploit and encourage this anger. Which is what they did on Tuesday.
What may appear one of the cops’ more innocuous interventions into the Jungle on Tuesday, very nearly became one of their most-destructive. So far, the levee has held against immense odds, but if it breaks, the state will have blood on its hands.
Jusqu’au bout ils essaieront de tuer la vie.
ENGLISH BELOW. Calais. La Jungle. Dimanche 07 Août 2016.
On pourrait faire une encyclopédie des idées de notre gouvernement pour anéantir toute forme de vie sociale dans cette enclave française. À croire qu’après avoir traversé terres et mers, et perdu déjà une bonne partie de sa vie à fuir à peu près tout ce que beaucoup fuiraient aussi, on serait voué à toujours se noyer, mourir, souffrir parce que l’Europe (et la France dans notre cas) en a décidé ainsi. Jusque là rien de neuf.
Leur dernière trouvaille en date – j’ai l’impression d’avoir déjà entendu et dit ça mille fois – c’est le harcèlement policier des nombreux shops et restaurants du camp. Tous les jours, ou presque, ils sont là. Armes au poing, pointées à seulement un ou deux mètres de ceux qui sont là et qui regardent complètement désabusés, ils font leur petite promenade quotidienne.
Deux hommes prennent tranquillement le soleil le lance-grenade lacrymogène à la main, comme si de rien n’était. Il fait beau non ? C’est parti pour une tournée des bars ! Ah, non, des restos, pardon…
Un CRS, ou plutôt un cow-boy (il y a un petit air de Lucky Luke, vous trouvez aussi ?), probablement mis en danger par le photographe. C’est vrai que là on se sent en sécurité. Et les usagers des restaurants du camp juste de l’autre côté de la route doivent aussi se sentir super bien !
Ils sourient. Ils se parlent et rient bruyamment, méprisant tous ceux qui vivent ici, bien loin de leurs vies et leurs priorités de bon petit CRS ou policier obéissant qui me donnent envie de vomir rien que d’y penser.
Des policiers, ainsi qu’un homme, probablement des services de contrôles sanitaires (il ne s’est pas présenté), qui ont franchement l’air de bien s’amuser.
Faut bien vous reconnaître le droit à la détente, pauvres policiers de mon pays, toujours armés mais victimes ! M’enfin là vous êtes quand même un peu désobligeants, moqueurs, insultants, blessants et VIOLENTS (comme toujours) !
C’est vrai qu’avoir une arme à la main c’est marrant.
C’est vrai que l’exil c’est marrant.
C’est vrai que la faim c’est marrant.
Et la promiscuité.
Et la saleté.
Etcetera, tout le monde a compris de quoi on parle.
Mais ce qu’il y a de plus poilant c’est quand même, après tout ça, de réussir encore à leur rendre la vie toujours plus dure, et à les enfoncer plus bas que terre. Ça met clairement du fun dans leur existence autant que dans celle des individus malsains composant notre gouvernement et nos « autorités » (autorité qu’ils ont d’ailleurs perdue depuis bien longtemps, bien qu’ils essayent de nous faire croire le contraire en employant systématiquement la violence, quelle que soit sa forme).
La violence à l’état pur : quand on vient d’Afghanistan, du Soudan, d’Erythrée, d’Ethiopie, de Syrie ou du Pakistan, déjà traumatisé par les morts, les combats, les traversées maritimes et les frontières, avec des forces de sécurité très accueillantes dans les Etats traversés, ça doit rappeler des bons souvenirs une intrusion quasi militaire à sa porte (et pour fermer des restaurants, attention c’était nécessaire) ! Ils sont vraiment méchants ces migrants, là, les bras croisés, ils font si peur qu’on leur braque dessus une arme qui n’est pas si agréable que ça, et encore moins à bout portant. Mais bon, pour beaucoup ils connaissent déjà ce que ça fait, alors si c’est banal pour eux, c’est pas grave. Et tant mieux, pas de surprise…
Donc, si vous n’êtes pas perdus après cette bonne tranche de rigolade, on ferme la parenthèse.
Depuis deux semaines, la préfecture envoie ses troupes visiter les shops et restaurants du camp. Au programme, au choix ou tout à la fois, on trouve : fermetures, arrestations (de n’importe qui puisqu’il n’y a ni propriétaire, ni responsable, ni vendeur à l’arrivée du contingent armé), vols et/ou destructions de biens (y compris de ce qui n’a aucun rapport avec l’activité de commerce « illégale », comme la destruction de toutes les ampoules visibles), saisies, convocations et autres cadeaux en tous genres.
Ils sont là, les CRS pleins de professionnalime qui représentent si bien notre gouvernement ! Mission accomplie parfaitement ! Le téléphone personnel pour prendre des photos, ça ne leur est pas interdit par la loi ? Si, mais eux ils sont au dessus des lois. Et les migrants en dessous. Invisibles. Beau pays, belle mentalité. En tout cas faut pas s’étonner qu’ils s’investissent en tant que casseurs à leur tour, pas en manif, certes, dans les restaurants des étrangers. C’est mieux et plus acceptable…
Les raisons, puisqu’il fallait qu’ils en trouvent, sont la concurrence déloyale aux commerces calaisiens, l’insécurité sanitaire des aliments servis et l’illégalité fiscale de ces lieux.
D’accord, on n’a rien à redire. Ah, si !
Une voix me dit que, en fait : d’abord, le Lidl et d’autres commerces du coin (légaux, ceux-là) doivent se frotter les mains depuis la création et l’augmentation de la population du camp, puisque beaucoup d’habitants de la Jungle ainsi que de commerces s’y approvisionnent. Et si les commerçants de Calais acceptaient les ennemis publics que sont les exilés, la question se poserait aussi moins. Du coup on aimerait savoir à qui ils font de la concurrence.
Ensuite, une interrogation se pose : est-ce que tous les Quick de France – ainsi que les autres « restaurants » aux conditions d’hygiène et de production horriblement similaires – ont été fermés après qu’un enfant y ayant mangé ait de ce fait et malheureusement trouvé la mort ? Vous connaissez la réponse. Ici ils évoquent des hospitalisations, dont personne n’a d’ailleurs jamais entendu parlé, pour pouvoir utiliser la santé des migrants et des bénévoles comme raison sanitaire à tout cela. Bon, on ne va pas se mentir, c’est bien la première fois qu’ils se soucient de la santé des migrants ! S’agissant d’un accident vasculaire cérébral, le médecin hospitalier répondra que sans demande d’asile en France il ne peut rien faire à part donner de l’aspirine, pour la pire de toutes les histoires de ce type. Bref, tout le monde ici vous le dira, on a vraiment peur des rats et des toilettes, dont le nombre diminue alors que la population augmente (logique gouvernementale), dont le nettoyage se fait rarissime et qui sont, à l’heure où ces lignes sont écrites, toutes affreusement sales et débordantes (pour rester poli). Mais sûrement pas de la cuisine des restaurants ! Leurs cuisines sont pour la plupart plus propres et présentables que celles du dernier Flunch que vous avez visité. D’ailleurs ceux qui ont fait l’expérience d’une hospitalisation en France vous le diront, ils préfèrent qu’on leur propose des plats des restaurants du camp plutôt que de perdre plusieurs kilos en quelques semaines car la nourriture de l’hôpital est immangeable. Et la même chose vous sera dite concernant les plats servis au centre d’accueil Jules Ferry : combien de fois au cours de discussions on a pu entendre que même un chien n’en voudrait pas, et que s’ils n’avaient pas aussi faim ils n’oseraient même pas y toucher… Et si on les laissait s’équiper, il ne fait aucun doute qu’ils feraient de belles cuisines qui brillent pour que les français ne se sentent pas trop dépaysés. Si ce n’est pas blanc et que ça ne brille pas la cuisine d’un resto, c’est que c’est sale ! On apprend ça à l’école de la République, non ?
Quand à l’irrégularité des restaurants, voilà un argument infaillible de la préfecture ! Des commerces illégaux avec des usagers indésirables dans un endroit qui n’a rien de légal du point de vue de la Déclaration Universelle des Droits de l’Homme, de la loi française et européenne, des accords, conventions et traités internationaux. Ça fait sens ! Il faudrait que des personnes jugées indésirables et qu’ils veulent illégales, qu’ils essayent par tous les moyens possibles de dissuader de rester en France en leur faisant subir toute la violence républicaine, physique et psychologique, fassent les démarches administratives pour pouvoir ouvrir un commerce qui servirait à d’autres indésirables. Cherchez bien, là encore il doit y avoir une logique. Si nos élus pouvaient nous aider à la trouver, elle doit être cachée en dessous de la Déclaration Universelle des Droits de l’Homme qu’ils n’ont jamais lue !
Quand j’entends leurs arguments de légalité, et fiscale qui plus est, je n’arrive pas à enlever cette petite voix qui finalement crie très très fort dans ma tête : « Les Droits de l’Homme, la Constitution française, la loi française, la loi européenne, la Convention de Genève et le reste, quelqu’un de chez vous s’est préoccupé de l’appliquer ici avant d’essayer d’appliquer le droit fiscal ? ». « Vous » c’est elle, la gauche qui continue à faire perdre tout leur sens aux mots « socialisme », « démocratie » et « liberté ». On n’avait vraiment pas besoin de ça.
Depuis quand les droits à appliquer sont ils sélectifs ? Depuis quand peut-on imposer des devoirs à ceux à qui on ne donne aucun droit ? Des droits et des devoirs, elle est là la plus grande blague qu’on nous enseigne depuis la maternelle.
Les Etats, la France et l’Angleterre, par leurs erreurs volontaires sont les premiers responsables de la création de ce lieu. L’arrivée de commerces était inéluctable et ils sont nécessaires à la survie des quelques 7000 (8000, 9000 aujourd’hui ? Qui sait le chiffre que nous donnera le prochain recensement…) personnes qui (sur)vivent ici. Les distributions alimentaires et de repas ne suffisent plus depuis longtemps au ridicule chiffre d’un repas par jour par personne. Les portions sont diminuées semaine après semaine, y compris pour les familles et donc pour les enfants (dont le plus jeune a, aux dernières nouvelles, 4 mois).
Les restaurants et magasins, en plus de combler ce manque alimentaire, permettent de charger les téléphones et donc aux habitants de communiquer avec leurs familles, de prendre des nouvelles régulièrement dans les zones de conflits ou après des événements particuliers (si, si, à Kaboul aussi il y a des attentats).
Et puis, dans la survie, ils apportent aussi un peu de vie. De l’humain, du social, du lien et de la mixité entre communautés. Ça change des « lines » de distribution qui ne sont sources que de tensions. Bien des valeurs que nos gouvernements ont passées aux oubliettes depuis bien longtemps. C’est la même chose que pour la liberté de circulation des personnes ou le droit d’asile, on ne veut plus en connaître la définition, c’est bien trop contraignant ! Alors que ça règlerait les problèmes de tout le monde, du gouvernement qui les crée jusqu’à nos amis qui en subissent les dramatiques conséquences, physiquement et psychologiquement violentes et traumatisantes.
La réponse du juge des référés du tribunal administratif de Lille à propos du référé de l’Etat français pour la destruction des commerces (et donc de la vie) du camp sera connue mercredi.
La vérité c’est qu’ils essayent de tuer le peu de vitalité qu’il reste dans les yeux de ceux qui ne cherchent que protection, mais qu’ils n’y arrivent pas. Ils ne savent plus rien faire d’autre que détruire, enfermer et déporter. Et pourtant tout le monde ici continue de sourire parfois, quand il ne pense pas aux morts, aux tortures et aux violences qu’ils continuent de subir ici.
Des vraies solutions, qui demanderaient certes une réflexion positive plutôt que sécuritaire et répressive, existent pourtant : l’hébergement inconditionnel et l’ouverture des frontières pour les personnes.
Mais leur liberté est vendue des millions à l’Angleterre, les rendant esclaves d’une Europe moderne en perdition.
Mais la liberté est en voix d’extinction, dans un pays qui l’avait pourtant choisie comme première valeur il y a plus de 225 ans. Vivement la piqûre de rappel… Horria !
ENGLISH
Until when they will try to kill life.
Calais. The jungle. Sunday, 7th August 2016.
We could make an encyclopedia out of our goverment’s ideas to wipe out all forms of social life in this part of France. To believe that after crossing land and sea, and already losing much of their lives running away from what we all would flee from, we would still be doomed to drown, die, suffer, because Europe (and France in our case) has decided so. So far nothing new.
Their latest brilliant idea- It seems to me I have already heard and heard it said a thousand times – is the police harassment of the camp’s shops and restaurants. They are there almost every day. They make their short patrol, weapons in their hands, just one or two metres from those who live there, who look at them lost for words.
Two men quietly bask in the sun holding their tear gas grenade launcher, as if it was normal. It looks cool, doesn’t it? And now we go for a bar crawl! Ah, no, restaurants, sorry…
A CRS, or maybe a cowboy (kind of reminds us of Lucky Luke), feels put in danger by the photographer. It is true that there we feel safe. And customers of the restaurants of the camp just on the other side of the road must feel super good too!
They smile. They talk and laugh loudly, not giving a shit about those who live here, so far removed from their lives and their priorities as good obedient CRS or policeman that just thinking about them makes me want to vomit.
Police officers and a man, probably from health checks services (he didn’t say where), who frankly seems to be having fun.
You must recognize the right to relax, poor police of my country, always the armed victims! but finally you are still a bit derogatory, mocking, insulting, hurtful and VIOLENT (as always)!
It’s true that having a gun in his hand is funny.
It’s true that being in exile is fun.
It is true that hunger is funny.
And promiscuity.
And the dirt.
Etc, everyone understands what we are talking about.
But what winds you up even more, is even after all that, they still manage to make their lives harder, and to push them lower than dirt. It clearly puts fun in their lives as much as the unhealthy individuals that compose our government and “authorities” (authority that they lost long ago, although they try to make us believe otherwise using systematic violence, whatever its form).
Violence: when it comes to Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Syria or Pakistan, already traumatized by the deaths, fights, sea crossings and borders, with very welcoming security forces in the states crossed, the almost military intrusion must recall good memories (and closing the restaurants, that was really needed!). They are really nasty these migrants with arms crossed, they create such fear that training a weapon on them, a weapon that is not as pleasant as that, let alone at close range. Still, for many they already know how it feels, It so commonplace for them, it’s okay. And better than that, it is no surprise…
So if you are not out of your mind after this good slice of fun we’ll move on to the next thing.
For two weeks, the prefecture has sent his troops to visit the shops and restaurants of the camp. Their agenda: closures, arrests (this could be anyone since there it is not obvious who is the owner nor who is responsible nor who is the seller when the Police arrive), and/or destruction of property (including that which has no connection with the “illegal” trade activity such as the destruction of light bulbs and TVs), seizures, court summonses and other gifts of all kinds.
They are there, the riot police, full of professionalism, representing or government so well! Mission accomplished perfectly! Using a smart phone to take pictures, it is not to them prohibited by law? Yes, but they are above the law. And migrants below. Invisible. Beautiful country, beautiful mentality.
Anyway is is not surprising that they behave like thugs, never towards their own people in protests, of course, but towards foreigners restaurants. It’s better and more acceptable …
The reasons, as it was necessary that they found some, are unfair competition to businesses of Calais, poor hygiene of food served and tax illegality of these places.
Okay, we have nothing to complain about. Oh yes !
Someone told me that in fact: first, Lidl and other shops in the area (legal, these ones) have seen their profits soar since the inception and increase in population of the camp, since many inhabitants of the Jungle and the shops buy their stock from them. And if Calais shops end the colour bar and start allowing in the public enemies that are the refugees, the question would be posed even less. So we would like to know who is losing out.
Then another question arises: were any fast foot restaurants in France – as well as other “restaurants” with similar conditions of hygiene and horribly similar production – closed after a child who ate there unfortunately died as a consquence? you know the answer.
Here they talk of hospitalizations, which nobody else has ever heard of, to use concern about migrant health as a reason for all this. Well, this is the first time that they have cared about the health of immigrants! In the case of a stroke, the hospital doctor will answer that without asylum in France he can not do nothing except give aspirin to the worst diseases. In short, what everyone here will tell you is that what they are really afraid of are rats and the toilets, of which the number decreases as the population increases (government logic), cleaning is extremely rare and are, at the time we are writing these lines, dirty and overflowing (to be polite). But surely no it is the restaurant kitchens! Their kitchens are mostly more cleaner than the last Flunch you’ve been in. Those who have experienced a hospitalization in France will tell you, they prefer the food they find in camp’s restaurants rather than lose several kilos in a few weeks because of the inedible hospital food. And the same will be told to you about the dishes served at the Jules Ferry Center: how often we hear that not even a dog would want it, and if they were not starving they wouldn’t touch it… And if we just let them equip themselves, there is no doubt they would have nice kitchens that will shine so the French won’t feel too disoriented. If the kitchen of a restaurant it is not white and it is not shining it means that it’s dirty! We learn this at school of the Republic, right?
Then, the informality of restaurants, this is a foolproof issue of the prefecture! Illegal businesses on with unwanted customers in a place which is squatted and not legal according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the French and European law, agreements, conventions and treaties. That makes sense! Those undesirable persons -who government try by all means to dissuade to stay in France by subjecting them to any possible violence, physical and psychological- should do the paperwork to open a legally owned business that would serve other undesired people. Look around, again there must a logic. If our elected officials could please help us find it, because it must be hidden under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that they have never read!
When I hear the reasoning of legality, which is more about taxes, I can not remove that little voice that screams loudly in my head: “The Rights of Man, the French Constitution, the French law , the European law, the Geneva Convention and the rest, has anyone been concerned to apply them here before trying to apply the tax law? “. “Anyone”, is it the Left that continues to spout out , devoid of all meaning the words “socialism,” “democracy” and “freedom.” We really don’t need that.
Since when were rights to be applied selectively? Since when can we impose duties on those who have no rights? Rights and duties, it’s the biggest joke we are taught since nursery.
Nations, France and England, through their voluntary errors hold the main responsibility for the creation of this place. The arrival of shops was inevitable and they are necessary for the survival of 7000 (8000, 9000 today? Who knows the number that the next census will state…) people living (surviving) here. Food distributions are not enough since a lot of time for it is only one meal per day per person. The portions are reduced week by week, including those for families and therefore children (the youngest of whom was, at last count, 4 months, but since then another girl has been born).
Restaurants and shops, in addition to filling this food shortage, allow migrants to charge phones and thus people to communicate with their families, having regular news from areas of conflict or after particular events (yes, also in Kabul there are terrorists attacks).
And in the struggle to survive they also bring a bit of life. They are a place for human, social relationships and are a melting pot between communities. It is a change from endless waiting in distribution lines that are the cause of so much tension. Although they are values that our governments forgot long ago. This is the same as for the freedom of movement or the right to asylum, you don’t want to know the definition, is too restrictive! While it would solve the problems of everyone, from the government that created the situation up to our friends who are suffering its dramatic consequences, physical and psychological violence and trauma.
We will know on Wednesday the decision of the judge of the Administrative Court of Lille about the interim of the French State for the destruction of shops (and therefore life) of the camp.
The truth is that they are trying to kill the little vitality that remains in the eyes of those who seek only protection, but they don’t find it. They know nothing else to do than destroy, lock up and deport. Yet the people here still smile sometimes when they are not thinking about deaths, torture and violence that still exists here.
True solutions, which certainly would require a positive reflection rather than protecting safety and repression, already exist: the unconditional accommodation and the opening of borders for people.
But their freedom is sold by millions in England, making them slaves of a sinking modern Europe.
But freedom is on its way to extinction, in a country that had chosen it as the first value more than 225 years ago. A deeply felt wakeup call… Huriyeh!
“no injuries” — “pas de blessés”
On Monday morning there was a large traffic jam on the A16 motorway, in front of the jungle. Many people were able to get on-board the lorries that were backed up, although there were lots of police present who were beating and tear-gassing people away.
The A16 was then closed off and remained this way for most of the day, with the ferry-bound traffic being diverted through the center of town. The CRS also completely sealed off the jungle allowing no one to leave (something which has become more common recently), and did not let people start to leave until Tuesday morning.
In the evening the A16 was re-opened and another traffic jam formed on the highway. People from the jungle then went out to try and again board the trucks. The police responded by shooting tear gas indiscriminately, covering the entire jungle, as well as rubber bullets and stun grenades along with their water cannon. The sheer amount of ammunition they used (some news outlets reported police shot over 600 tear-gas canisters) shows the level of violence that has been normalized against the residents of the jungle.
The prefecture stated that there were no injuries from Monday which is a blatant lie. A nurse working in the jungle reported seeing at least fourteen injuries from rubber bullets, including one underage boy being hit in the face. There were numerous hospitalizations, and the police also shot a tear gas canister directly at a person trying to give first aid.
There were also three arrests. One man from Kuwait was convicted for throwing stones and sentenced yesterday to three months in prison without suspension. There were also two British people who had been volunteering in the jungle arrested and accused of orchestrating the day’s events in addition to throwing stones and insulting police. One was given a two month suspended sentence while the other was found not-guilty.
With these events there has been a resurgence of the outside agitator rhetoric which blames “the No Borders” for everything that happens in Calais, and which has been getting recycled since 2009. This accusation is not only a complete fabrication, but a deeply racist one at that. It implies that, without white/european leadership, the people in the jungle would not think of, nor be able to, attack the border and the police responsible for their segregation. It also conceals the extreme state violence in this city (the segregation, the imprisonment, the beatings and gassings of the cops, the deportations, etc.) to which the only natural human reaction is to leave. If there is no way then people will continue make their own. Finally, it scapegoats “the No Borders”, while lumping together and criminalizing anyone showing solidarity or giving help in the jungle.
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“Pas de blessés”
Sur l’autoroute, le matin du lundi 20 juin 2016, en face de la Jungle s’est créé un large bouchon. De nombreuses personnes ont pu monter dans les semi-remorques alignés à l’arrêt, en dépit des nombreux policiers présents qui les faisaient fuir en les frappant et en les gazant.
L’autoroute A16 a ensuite été fermée une grande partie de la journée, le traffic lié aux ferries étant redirigé par le centre ville. Les CRS ont complètement fermé la Jungle, n’autorisant personne à en sortir (ce qui devient courant récemment), et ce jusqu’au lendemain matin.
Dans la soirée, l’A16 a été réouverte et un nouveau bouchon s’est formé sur l’autoroute. Les personnes de la Jungle ont tenté à nouveau de monter dans les camions. La police a répondu en tirant du gaz lacrymogène, sans faire de détails, jusqu’à couvrir la totalité de la Jungle. Elle a également tiré des balles “de défense”, des grenades assourdissantes, et utilisé les canons à eau. L’énorme quantité de munitions que la police a utilisées (la presse rapporte le tir de plus de 600 cartouches de gaz lacrymogène) indique à quel niveau la violence policière s’est normalisée contre les résident-es de la Jungle.
La préfecture a déclaré qu’il n’y avait pas eu de blessé-es lundi, ce qui est un mensonge évident. Un-e infirmièr-e travaillant dans la Jungle a déclaré avoir vu au moins 14 blessures dûes aux tirs de balles “de défense”, l’une sur le visage d’un garçon mineur. Il y a eu de nombreuses hospitalisations, et la police a également effectué un tir tendu de cartouche de gaz sur une personne qui tentait de donner des premiers soins.
Il y a également eu trois personnes arrêtées. Un Kowëtien qui a été reconnu coupable d’avoir jeté des pierres et condamné mercredi 22 juin 2016 à trois mois de prison ferme. Deux Britanniques, bénévoles dans la Jungle, arrêtés et accusés d’avoir organisé les événements de la journée, ainsi que d’avoir jeté des pierres sur la police et de l’avoir insultée. L’un a été condamné à deux mois de prison avec sursis, l’autre a été reconnu non-coupable.
Ces événements ont été l’occasion pour les autorités de réutiliser la réthorique de “l’agitateur externe” qui veut que “les No Borders” soient responsables de tout ce qui se passe à Calais, réthorique recyclée sans cesse depuis 2009. Non seulement cette réthorique relève de la propagande et de la désinformation mais en plus elle révèle la vision raciste du monde qui est celle des autorités. En effet elle implique que, sans des meneurs blancs/européens, les personnes de la Jungle ne penseraient pas à, ou ne seraient pas capables de, s’attaquer à la frontière et à la police, qui est responsable de leur ségrégation. Cette propagande tente également de faire oublier le niveau extrême de violence qui a cours contre ces personnes dans la ville – la ségrégation, l’emprisonnement, les tabassages et gazages par les forces de l’ordre, les déportations, etc – violence face à laquelle la seule réaction humaine “naturelle” est de tenter de la fuir. Et s’il n’y a pas moyen de faire autrement cette ville, les gens vont continuer à en inventer. Pour finir, cette réthorique fait des “No Borders” des boucs émissaires, et elle amalgame et criminalise toute personne ou organisation faisant montre de solidarité ou apportant de l’aide dans la Jungle.
Death In Calais/ Mort à Calais
This morning, Thursday 31st March, a 22 year old man from Afghanistan was killed after being hit by a truck on the A16.
On Tuesday 29th March, an underage person from Syria was seriously injured after being run over by a truck in the port. He is still in the resuscitation unit, it is still unclear whether he will survive.
This border kills.
Ce Jeudi 31 mars au matin ;un Afghan de 21 ans est décédé après avoir était écrasé par un camion sur l’A16.
Mardi 29 mars ,un mineur syrien à été grièvement blessé après avoir couru près d’un camion vers le port.Il est encore en service de réanimation ,on ne sait toujours pas si il survivra,leur pronostique vital est engagé.
Les frontières tuent.
Traffic Gas
Yesterday, around 5 PM, a group of migrants from the jungle managed to
cross the fence towards the port of Calais. The French riot police tried
to stop them using tear gas. The police kept shooting tear gas grenades
against the migrants who tried to reach the fence which protects the
road leading to the port. Soon, the police started shooting at a longer
range, hitting indiscriminately the people in the streets of the jungle.
One person was wounded, probably because he was hit by one of the grenades.
The shooting kept going until well past 6 PM.
There were again traffic jams this morning and this afternoon in the jungle. Once again the police arrived with excessive force, using gas and the water-cannon.
Hier, autour de 17h, un groupe de migrants partis de la jungle ont
réussi à franchir le grillage en direction du port de Calais. Les CRS
ont essayé de les stopper en utilisant des grenades lacrymogènes. Les
policiers ont continué à lancer des lacrymogènes sur les migrants qui
cherchaient à atteindre le grillage qui protège la route qui conduit au
port. Peu après, les CRS ont commencé à lancer à plus grande distance,
en frappant sans distinction dans les rues de la jungle. Une personne a
été blessée, probablement touchée par l’une des grenades.
Le lancement a continué jusqu’à après 18h.
Il y as eu de nouveau des bouchons ce matin et cette après-midi près de la jungle. De nouveau la police est arrivée en faisant un usage excessif de la force en usant du gaz et le canon à eau.
Appel à solidarité avec les squateuse-eur.s de calais / Call out for solidarity with calais squatters
FR (EN Bellow)
Ce Lundi 28 Mars 2016, 8 ami-es qui squattaient un bâtiment à Calais sont toujours détenus pour avoir osé défier la « tolérance zéro envers les squats » dans cette ville ouvertement ségrégée (cf. leur communiqué).
Les chefs d’inculpation qui les visent : violation de domicile et dégradation. Or ce bâtiment était vide depuis de nombreuses années, et les dégradations ont été commises par les forces de police. En effet avec l’aide de l’adjoint au maire M Mignonnet ils ont procédé à l’expulsion illégale en défonçant une fenêtre et en enfonçant la porte pour pénétrer à l’intérieur du bâtiment sans avoir attendu la plainte du propriétaire.
Mardi 29 Mars à 14h aura lieu une audience publique pour les 8 ami-es au tribunal de Boulogne devant le juge des libertés et de la détention. Nous lançons un appel à soutien face à cette répression d’État contre ceux et celles qui agissent pour la solidarité et l’humanité, avec les sans voix.
En ces temps où la liberté est érodée par l’État pour faire place à la peur, au contrôle et à la violence, il est important de se tenir ensemble, contre l’injustice de ce qui se passe en France et en Europe, le racisme et le fascisme qui se déguise en démocratie et en liberté.
On appelle à soutien le Mardi 29 Mars à 14h pour l’audience devant le JLD et le Mercredi 30 Mars à 14h à Boulogne encore pour la comparution immédiate.
Nous vous tiendrons au courant.
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EN
Today Monday 28 March 2016, 8 friends who squatted a building in Calais are still under arrest and are in prison, their crime, daring to defy the ‘zero-tolerence of squats’ in this overtly segregated city.
The charges against them are : violation of domicile and voluntary degradation. These are ridiculous charges because the building was empty since many years, and the degradation was made by the police when they proceeded to the illegal eviction. With the help of the deputy mayor they smashed up a window and battered down a door to get inside the building, not even waiting for a complaint filed by the owner.
Tuesday 29 March at 14h there will be a public hearing for the 8 friends at the court in Boulogne in front of the judge of liberty and detention. We call out for support and solidarity in the face of this repression of the state against those who act out of solidarity and humanity, with those who have no voice.
At this time when liberty is being eroded by the state and replaced with fear, control and violence, it is important to make a stand together against the injustice of what is taking place in France and Europe, rascim and fascism in the guise of democracy and freedom.
We call for support Tuesday 29th March 14h for the public hearing in front of the JLD and Wednesday 30th March at 14h also in Boulogne for the comparution immediate. We will keep you updated.
Calais Migrant Solidarity 