after the custody of a volunteer from the Migrants Hostel, associations denounce an escalation of violence
The volunteer from the Auberge des migrants arrested during a camp dismantling will be summoned to court in May. This arrest for “blows to a CRS”, of which the association rejects the basis, reveals a rise in tensions in Calais.
Since the start of the week, three migrant encampments have been dismantled. The most recent: that of Coquelles, near Calais, where a hundred exiled people were expelled and 80 tents seized by a team of 150 police and gendarmes.
It was precisely during one of these evacuations, Tuesday, January 4, that a volunteer from the association of the Auberge des migrants was arrested. The latter, present in the camp during the operation of the police, was taken into police custody.
The Pas-de-Calais prefecture accuses him of having ” refused to leave the dismantling area ” and to have ” attempt to strike blows at a CRS assigned to this mission “. The associative activist left the Calais police station on Wednesday January 5. She will have to appear in court next May.
The coordinator of the Auberge des migrants, Pierre Roques, challenges the version of the facts presented by the prefecture . He delivers his: “A CRS grabbed our colleague by the collar to put her outside, she had the misfortune to put her hands forward to protect herself, and they arrested her. She had a protective reflex. She didn’t. reacted violently. “
Pierre Roques explains that the volunteer questioned and her team “get hold of one of the camps to warn people of the arrival of the police so that they can recover their equipment.”
One of the main points of tension is the recovery of tents and equipment by migrants. Since the arrival of the government mediator, Didier Leschi, last November, a protocol obliges migrants to be notified 24 hours before each evacuation operation so that they can collect their belongings. And yet, “30 tents were seized twice in the week” Pierre Roques is offended. The prefect replied: “Sufficient time was given to the migrants during this operation, as is the case for all operations”.
This questioning takes place in a context of escalating tensions between grassroots associations and the police. ” The interventions are more and more muscular in recent weeks, assures the coordinator of the Auberge des migrants. Before they carried out these operations with four gendarmerie vans, today there are a dozen CRS vans.“
In recent days, several violent events, not necessarily linked to others, have taken place during evacuation operations. On December 30, the dismantling of a migrant camp degenerated and ended with the exchange of projectiles between CRS and exiles.
On January 2, a new eviction operation carried out in the commune of Marck was pronounced on Sunday by members of Human Rights Observer, present on the spot. “During the eviction from a place of life, the exiles were raced and gassed by the CRS, at least 30 tents and 5 tarpaulins were seized. Our observers were violently pushed “, said, in a tweet, the project related to the Auberge des migrants.
Jean-Claude Lenoir, at the head of the Salam association, notes “a huge hardening” law enforcement operations. “What is very serious is that violence is becoming commonplace, he adds. And the risk is that it becomes a gateway to an opening to ever more violence. “
For its part, the State defends its doctrine of systematic dismantling, which has no other goal than to prevent the emergence of a new jungle. Present during the intervention of Thursday, January 6, in Coquelles, the sub-prefect of Calais, Véronique Depres-Boudier wished to recall the unchanging doctrine of the government: “The policy of implementation in Calais is an assumed policy of non-establishment of people in camps, on land which is the property of others. “
Before continuing: “If we let them settle in, these camps will grow larger, which will lead, as always, to disturbing public order. The risk of these camps is that they will end up letting all of them infiltrate. trafficking, in particular smuggling. “
Regarding the accusations of “hardening” interventions by the police, the prefecture explains that the system put in place during dismantling operations “is adapted according to the risk assessment”.
And to add: “the behavior of the migrants during the operation of December 30, and the number of wounded in the police force (2 successful and about fifty wounded for various reasons) detects the risks undergone the police are exposed . “
In December 2021, Human Rights Obersver counted 125 evictions from informal living spaces, 199 tents and tarpaulins seized and 8 arrests.