Tents of migrants torn in Calais: what we know about the controversy
“I don’t think there is a government order to tear up tents (…) That we could, like that, tear up tents with impunity, that we would encourage it and that we would not distribute food to these migrants? These words pronounced Friday by Éric Dupond-Moretti, Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, guest of the program C l’hebdo, Friday, on France 5, irritated many associations of aid of migrants in the Pas- de-Calais.
In their eyes, the minister denies a reality that they observe on the ground. “I still saw tents destroyed a month and a half ago in Calais. The Minister of Justice pretends that he is not aware of it, but it is impossible. Or otherwise, it is very bad, ”is irritated on Twitter Juliette Delaplace, in charge of mission of Secours Catholique with people in exile in Calais.
To AFP, a representative of Médecins du monde also describes “police harassment” which, according to her, consists of tearing up tents and taking the personal effects of migrants, or even putting rocks to block humanitarian distributions. “There were lacerations in Grande-Synthe (North) in January but also two weeks ago. The tents were destroyed in Calais, before my eyes, this summer, by gendarmes ”, also lists Pierre Roques, coordinator of the Auberge des migrants in Calais association. “Every month, we take stock, we slashed 400 or 500 tents of poor devils, women, children, exposed to the cold … No that’s enough, we stop with that, it’s pure barbarism”, s’ finally moved the member of Bouches-du-Rhône and presidential candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Darmanin claims to have asked for an end to the lacerations of tents
If the damage to these tents which serve as shelters for migrants dreaming of the United Kingdom is indisputable, the police claim not to be the cause. Asked this Monday on BFMTV, the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, defended them. “A private company was hired by the state, once the evacuations were made by the police and gendarmes, to retrieve the tents and throw them away. They were indeed lacerating them, but there were no state orders. It was the company that did it because they took the tents and dumped them. We asked to stop this. We noticed it in particular because the journalists showed it to us. It is not the police and gendarmes who take cutters and tear up the tents ”, assured the member of the government. Contacted, the private company responsible for dismantling the camps did not wish to speak for the moment.
Until now, the authorities simply never mentioned the destruction of tents. But the associations of aid to migrants are not satisfied: “The Minister of the Interior plays with words. Yes, it is not the police who take care of the tents. But unofficially, we know that the CRS issue stab wounds in these shelters at night, ”assures Pierre Roques, of the Auberge des migrants. And to continue: “I do not know when this instruction dates or to whom it was passed, but it nevertheless seems to continue until recently”.
For these associations, this announcement will not in any case solve the problem of “the policy based against the fixation camps”. “If they are no longer lacerated, the tents will still be destroyed or seized. This Sunday morning, when it was -2 ° C last night, duvets and tarpaulins were again confiscated. The way in which we undermine the morale of these refugees is lamentable, ”criticizes Juliette Delaplace, the Secours Catholique project manager.
Humanitarian associations on the spot do not expect any improvement in the living conditions and treatment of the 2,000 or so migrants identified in the Calais area. “We have no hope that this will change…”, concludes the representative of Secours Catholique.