Calais in the trap of migrants
REPORTING – Taken hostage between smuggling networks and European legislation incapable of finding effective solutions, thousands of illegal immigrants continue to flock to Calais and Dunkirk in the hope of reaching the English coast at the cost. At the risk of perishing at sea or on the road to exile.
The northwesterly wind which had been blowing for three days on the Hauts-de-France coast has fallen overnight and the cliffs of Dover, clearly visible yesterday, are no more than a clear line in a long gray curtain. This morning, a cloudy day rises slowly, cloudy and drowned in rain.
Hanging on to the barbed wire which protects the access to the dunes of Pointe aux Oies, between Ambleteuse and Wimereux, about thirty kilometers from Calais, a soggy sleeping bag oscillates like a dirty cloth. A little further on, a large deflated inflatable boat lies on the beach, trapped by the tide. Its transom is intact, but its thin black painted wood floor has shattered on the rocks. Motor wires are gone. No trace of the women and men who took their places on board to try to reach England.
Read alsoHas migratory pressure really diminished in Calais?
Did they leave yesterday despite the storm? The day before yesterday? Have they succeeded? Did they drown? Or did they give up at the last moment because of the bad …