amendments confirmed for volunteers assisting migrants
The Boulogne-sur-Mer police court confirmed on Monday June 27 two of the multiple amendments necessary for breach of confinement to volunteers from the migrant aid association Utopia 56, active in Calais, while exempting them from punishment.
Read alsoIn Calais, these migrants tried to cross in a truck
According to the association, its members have been inflicted around a hundred fines – representing some 20,000 euros in fines to be paid – while they were providing assistance to migrants during the confinements imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. If around thirty have already been dismissed after a simple request, the association is still contesting around forty. Those pronounced by the police court of Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais), but with dispensation from sentence, concerned two volunteers, fined for having gone to a place of life of candidates for exile in May 2021 in order to provide coverage, supporting employer certificates.
“Harassment” of the authorities
“We were outside, but we didn’t have to be fined for that: we provided material and essential support to people in very vulnerable situations.“, reacted Marguerite Combes, member of Utopia56. Relevant that assistance to vulnerable people is one of the reasons recognized by the authorities during confinement, she questioned a “harassmentfrom the authorities.
The court had on the contrary dismissed on May 20 three failed verbalizations to two members of another association active with migrants in Calais, Human Rights Observers, according to the latter. About forty other hearings concerning the two associations are expected in the coming months, according to one of their advisers, Me Maxime Cléry-Melin. According to Marguerite Combes, the case is part of a “general context of association training and intimidation“.
Read alsoMigrants: how the relocation of asylum seekers is systemized in Rwanda
The northern coast of France has for years attracted thousands of candidates for exile, who camp in unsanitary conditions while waiting to find a boat or a truck for Great Britain.