Tagged: tear-gas
Footage from Police Tear Gas Attack of 7th October
This shows just how little it takes for the police in Calais to fire tear gas into people’s homes. There were several other incidents of tear gas being fired into the camp in the few hours after this one, each one aimed further into the camp, where people live, including children.
For more info, see this post:
https://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/2015/10/08/tear-gas-attack-on-the-jungle-again/
Tear gas attack on the jungle again / Tirs tendus de gazs lacrymogènes dans la jungle
Yesterday, (7th October) early evening, there was again teargas fired into the Jungle as there was a traffic jam on the motorway.
To stop people jumping on to lorries, police in full riot gear stood in their way to the entrance to this mortorway. There was crowds of people standing around aiming to cross on the motorway and into UK. The atmosphere changed, as the first round of tear gas was fired and the crowds dispersed. People gathered again and fought back with stones. This included many minors. As crowds grew, another round of tear gas was fired, the crowd dispersed and then slowly gathered again. This occurred repeatedly for over an hour. At one point there was music and dancing however as the crowd grown bigger and more gas was fired. At least 8 or 9 rounds of tear gas was fired, each time further into the jungle.
The police were also shooting the gas canisters directly at people, which is illegal in France. One man, at least was hit in the chest at quite short range from a canister.They were also deliberately aimed into people’s homes as gas canons were fired in direction of the Eritrean area on repeated rounds of tear gas. This extreme police violence happened indiscriminately and many children were amongst those where tear gas was fired.
It shows again not only the frequent and severe police violence but also that those without papers are those really challenging Europe’s border regime.
Hier (7 octobre), en début de soirée, comme il y avait un embouteillage sur l’autoroute, des gaz lacrymogènes ont été tirés dans la jungle.
Pour empêcher les gens de monter dans les camions, des policiers en tenue anti-émeute se sont postés sur la bretelle d’accès de l’autoroute. Tout autour, il y avait une foule de gens cherchant à traverser l’autoroute et à se rendre au Royaume-Uni.
L’atmosphère a changé lorsque les premières salves de lacrymogènes ont été tirées et que la foule s’est dispersée. Les gens se sont rassemblés de nouveau et ont résisté en lançant des pierres. Beaucoup de mineurs étaient présents. Alors que la foule grandissait une seconde salve de lacrymogène a été lancée par les flics, la foule s’est encore dispersée et s’est ensuite de nouveau regroupée. Ça a continué comme ça pendant plus d’une heure. À un moment donné il y avait de la musique et les gens dansaient au fur et à mesure que la foule grossissait et que plus de gaz lacrymogène était tiré.
Au mois 8 ou 9 salves de lacrymogènes ont été lancées, chaque fois plus loin dans la jungle. Les tirs ont été délibérément orientés en direction des maisons, vers la zone érythréenne. La manière dont les policiers utilisaient leurs armes est d’ailleus illégale, procédant à des tirs tendus. Une personne a été touchée par un cartouche en pleine poitrine tirée à courte distance.
Cela montre une nouvelle fois les violences policières fréquentes et graves, mais aussi, que ceux qui n’ont pas de papiers sont ceux qui défient vraiment le réfime européen des frontières.
Tear gas attack on the jungle
Early this afternoon there was a traffic jam on the motorway near the jungle. Many people went there to try and get into the lorries. The police reacted by pushing them back in the jungle with use of batons and spray, and they fired tear gas on the jungle itself. At least 10 salvos of tear gas were fired indiscriminately into jungle near the part of the camp where many Eritrean women live, there are also children in that part of the jungle. People fought back with stones. The police are using intense violence to push people back into the jungle and prevent people from exiting. They also flew a drone over the jungle during the clashes to watch the people. One person is currently in hospital also having been shot in the stomach with a rubber bullet. Video here.
Police gas sleeping migrants!
At 7:30 in the morning on July 29th there was a traffic jam on the A16 leading up to the port. This traffic jam backed up lorries all the way to where the major security fence along the road finishes right next to the migrant camp. One guy from the camp went up to the fence to see what was happening and was immediately sprayed by the CRS cops on the top of the hill. This action, in and of itself, was entirely disproportionate and shows that the police here treat the people as insects, but what they did next was entirely beyond reason and in no way related to stopping people from making it to the motorway. It was a sadistic attack with potentially deadly consequences.
The people in the jungle below shouted and protested at the police’s action and the CRS retaliated by shooting two canisters of CS gas into the group of tents close to the motorway bridge where predominantly Eritrean and Ethiopian people are staying. The people in these tents were sleeping and were in no way trying to get to the motorway traffic jam. In addition to it being an entirely unprovoked attack on people who were asleep inside their homes, the police created an extremely dangerous situation for no justifiable reason. These canisters travel at high speeds dispersing incendiary disks, which release CS gas as they burn. These disks melted holes in people’s tents and could have potentially started a huge fire, as well as spreading poison gas over an area of sleeping people. Then more vans of police fully decked out in riot gear arrived and violently forced people back to the camp, even though they only wanted to cross to go into the city center.
As the major media outlets continue to sensationalize the situation around the Eurotunnel and journalists build their careers on the misery of those living in the jungle, no one seems to care about the torture and violence that the state administers everyday.
Video of the police taken from inside the jungle.
