Tagged: sudanese jungle
Evictions in Calais and Paris
Today the French police evicted the Squat Galloo and the jungle near the Leader Price supermarket. Opened in July 2014 by a collaoration between associations, migrants and activists, at one point home to over 300 people, Galloo was a space in Calais for people to gather, share a meal, charge phones, and rest. It was people’s home.
This morning at 6am the eviction at Galloo started by 10am the numbers of police had increased. The police surrounded the 12,000m square disused metal reclamation building blocking off all possible exits. People staying inside were given a limited time to collect possessions and were escorted from the building through a side entrance. Reports claim that 66 people were arrested and around 40 of them were taken to the detention center in Coqulles, although this is not confirmed. There is now security on the premises.
At the Leader Price Jungle, which had already experienced a semi-eviction earlier this year, scores of Gendarms cleared the area around the supermarket, forcing people from their sleeping spaces. There are reports of arrests from here aswell.
The new destination for the people ejected from their shelters, the open air prison on the outskirts of Calais, the new jungle surrounding the Jules Ferry Center. Those evicted today were those who had been resisting against the ‘voluntary’ move to the new day centre for over two months, having been pressured by the police and other state organisations to leave at the end of March. Here is a statement from the residents in Galloo, written back at the end of March to explain why they didn’t willingly move to the new centre.
This police operation was co-ordinated as well with the eviction of a large jungle in La Chapelle in Paris, which was home to over 350 people.
police plan actions for tomorrow, friday
The ultimatum to leave for the people in front of the BSMO is friday 6am, the one for the church at 10am.
there is a request for people to be there in the night and in the morning to support them the moment the police will come.
please spread this info.
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la police plannifier des qctions pour demain, vendredi
L’ultimatum de quitter pour les personnes en face de la BSMO est vendredi 6 heures, l’une pour l’église à 10h.il ya une demande pour les gens d’être là dans la nuit et le matin pour les soutenir au moment où la police viendra.
la police ne est pas allé Galloo avec le même message, mais il est possible qu’ils y aller demain aussi.
s’il vous plaît diffuser cette information.
The evictions have started / Les expulsions ont commencé
At the moment we are getting a lot of questions about when the evictions are going to happen or start. Lets be clear, they started a long time ago. Just because the police have not gone into the jungles and squats and destroyed them in a big violent media spectacle, they have been happening and will continue for a long time.
They started when the plans for the new day centre were announced. They continued when they announced that everybody has no choice but to move to the land outside the centre, and no other living spaces will be tolerated. They continued when many people claiming asylum in Calais were re-homed to other cities in order to reduce the numbers of people on the ground. They continued when daily police violence and arrests increased dramatically over the last few weeks, making sure that people were tired and exhausted and with no energy left to face the police. They continued when they Offi and the police continue to visit living places, counting down the days until the police are coming, making sure people feel like they have no choice but to go.
Pschologically and physically harassing people into moving to a place they don’t want to go is an eviction. Maybe this has not been an eviction that makes for a good news report the way you write them, there are no dramatic photos, but it is an eviction none the less.
Last week (as we have said before) the women from the Women’s House were moved, against their wishes, to a new house inside of the day centre. Over the weekend everyone from the camp Tioxide and the Afghan jungle in Bois Debruille moved to the new day centre. They did not do this by choice. They did this under threat of arrest, violence, and destructions of their homes.
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En ce moment nous recevons beaucoup de questions sur le moment où les expulsions vont se produire ou quand démarrer. Soyons clair- ils ont commencé il ya longtemps. Juste parce que la police n‘est pas allés dans les jungles et les squats pour les détruire de manière ultra spectaculaire, médiatique et surtout violente, il y’avait quand meme des expulsions et elles continueront encore pendant longtemps.
Les expulsion ont commencé lorsque le projet du nouveau centre de jour a été annoncés. Elles ont continué quand ils ont annoncé que toutes personnes n’aurait pas d’autre choix que d’aller sur le terrain autour du centre, et que aucun autre lieux de vie ne serait tolérée. Elles ont continué quand beaucoup de demandeur d’asile à Calais ont été placés, dans d’autres villes afin de réduire le nombre de personnes sur le terrain. Elles ont continué lorsque la violence et les arrestations au quotidien par la police ont considérablement augmenté pour faire un sorte que les gens étaient fatigués et épuisés et sans énergie pour faire face à la police. Elles ont continué quand l’Offi et la police ont visité regulièrement les lieux de vie, pour s‘assurer que les gens n’ont pas l’impression d’avoir d’autre choix que de quitter leurs lieux de vie.
D’harceler les gens psychologiquement et physiquement pour qu’ils se déplaçent à un endroit où ils ne veulent pas aller est une expulsion. Peut-être que cela n’a pas été une expulsion qui en fait un bon articledans le journals pour les journalistes qui vivent de la sensation- il n’y a pas de photos spectaculaires, mais ce mine de rien une expulsion.
La semaine dernière (comme nous l’avons déjà dit) les femmes de la Maison des femmes ont été déplacés, contre leur volonté, à une nouvelle maison à l’intérieur du centre de jour. Au cours du week-end tout le monde du campement Tioxide et de la jungle afghane à Bois Debruille s’est déplacé vers le nouveau centre de jour. Ils ne l‘ont pas fait par choix. Ils l’ont fait sous la menace d’arrestation, la violence et les destructions de leurs maisons.
Evictions….
This is an addition to a previous blog post on Friday where we said:
The people in the Sudanese jungle had an unwelcome visit from the police and people from the town hall this morning. They were told to leave by the end of March, or the police would come to close the camp.
In actual fact, most of the major living spaces; Tioxide, Bois Debruille, the people staying outside the BCMO (the old cold weather shelter) and the people from the Syrian Church were also visited on Friday, all receiving the same message.
Sudanese Jungle and Evictions
The people in the Sudanese jungle had an unwelcome visit from the police and people from the town hall this morning. They were told to leave by the end of March, or the police would come to close the camp.
A december in Calais
Winter has arrived with storms and rains. The big jungles and Galloo squat are still there; Tioxide-jungle with 2 restaurants, school, church, mosque and a shop. (see below news about forthcoming evictions). There are around 2000 people living rough in these spaces. The cold weather shelter is open occasionally with 350 sleeping spaces: it’s located far from the city and even when open it is not easily accessible due to the short opening hours.
December saw a high level of police violence concentrated on truck parkings and traffic jams leading to the Euro Tunnel and port. Attacks were sporadic and beatings seemingly random, aimed at discouraging migrants form trying for England and plainly expressing police racism. Police chased people into oncoming traffic, broke many limbs, and regularly used pepper spray at point blank range. They destroyed cameras when people attempted to film these illegal acts of violence.
When arrested from the streets near the jungles people were often taken to far away detention centers, such as Rennes, Metz, Nimes, Strasbourg and Paris. Some were even transported by plane to distant detention centers via a small airport in Calais.
The border entails various forms of violence. Migration controls violates women’s rights through racism and sexism in a way that these two systems of oppression are very much interlinked.
The hospital of Calais refuses to carry out abortions for migrants with an extremly cowardly explanation. The authorities based their decision on law that says that you cannot travel to France to have an abortion there, obviously that is not the case of the women at all. They systematically send women that could not proove an official residence in France to the hospital of Grande Synthe, that is 50 kilometers away. They claim that this is because they are concerned about the womens security, since abortion is supposed to be a specific medical intervention (although it is an intervention like any other with very low risks) they say it is to dangerous for the women to go back to the jungle afterwards. So yeah, they think staying pregnant against their own will is healthier and safer for the women.
After complaints having been made, the hospital should be called out by the ministry of health, since this racist, selective practice of carrying out basic health services is completely illegal!
However, not all was bleak. There were a few festive moments, namely a demo on the International Migrants’ day on the 18th, a couple of small Christmas parties in the jungles and a big New Years party at the Galloo Squat. The demo was organized by various associations as a response to the ‘Wall of Shame’, a large security fence recently installed by the UK government to increase security in the Ferry Port and previously used for the NATO summit in Cardiff. It was well-attended with over 1000 people. All of the parties were a great success with no violent police interventions or other incidents – just wild dancing to a very mixed play list and general merriment.
Next week on wednesday at 2pm (Centre Social Espace Fort Yves
2 B Rue D Ajaccio) self defense classes for women, trans* and queers will start ! These classes will hopefully take place regularly on a longterm basis- we are still looking for teachers that are happy to come around and hold one or several classes!
What to expect for January ?
An eviction notice, without a specific date being set has been placed in front of the sudanese jungle and the Bois Dubrulle (forest on the opposite side of Tioxide mainly inhabited by the afghan and ethiopian comunity) by the CRS. Several asylum seekers living in the spaces being threatened are ready to challenge the decision in court.
The last official announcements made by the prefecture claimed that there would be no forced evictions of any living spaces until the new day center opens. So when does it open? Food is supposed to be served there starting from mid-january and the original opening date of the center was set for the end of the month. But it seems like there are some additional works inside the building that take up more time than foreseen, so we don’t reall know at what point they actually wanna get going. Anyways we aren’t waiting for it with high expectations. The day center is part of a wider anti-migration strategy and comes along with other agreements between Natacha Bouchart and Cazeneuve with the UK (more policemen in Calais, closing-off of the port with the fence all around). Starting from the moment the daycenter opens, all other squats and jungles etc. are supposed to disappear and a ‘zero tolerance politic’ towards them has been announced. All services for migrants are supposed to be centralised in this space far from the city center, in order to concentrate the migrants outside of Calais. There will be no sleeping places for men, camping will be tolerated on the fields around. The outcome will be an even more official segregation between the habitants of the city and the migrants being locked out in the middle of nowhere.
Location of the center: https://www.google.fr/maps/place/Centre+A%C3%A9r%C3%A9+Jules+Ferry/@50.974514,1.903281,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x7dacbfa7f4b841b5
The 11 persons from Sudan, that had been arrested on the 28th of november were released yesterday morning!
The 11 persons that had been arrested on the 28th of november were released yesterday morning!
Small overview of what happened in the meantime:
After their tough arrestation in Calais in front of the sudanese jungle, where they had not even been given the chance to get their papers from their tents (some of them had for example proof that they were about to ask asylum in France) the arrested people were first brought to the detention center in Coquelles and then send to the detention center in Roissy close to Paris. They arrived in Roissy after 22 hours. Until their arrival there, during these 22 HOURS, THEY WERE NOT GIVEN WATER NOR MEDICATION INDESPENSABLE TO LIFE !! Another example that not even a tiny minimum of rights is respected in Calais.
Monday:
In the afternoon five of them were convocated, but send back to the detention center basically without a decision being made. They were released on monday after the maximum amount of 5 days of detention possible without prolongation ( neither the prefect had asked nor the judge had decided on an extension)
Tuesday:
During the courtcase of the six other persons, the maximum amount of 5 days of detention ( the prefect had not asked for an extension in their case either) had passed and technically all of them were already free before the judge took her decision. This was respected by the court and people decided by themselves whether they wanted to wait for the decision or leave. The judge repealed the request to leave french territory done by the prefecture.
The arrested persons were really disgusted about the brutality and unjustifiedness of their arrestment and the fact that they were brought away so far from Calais!! They felt treated like criminals and very threatened of being deported! This tactic of creating fear and sending people to prisons in other cities in order to get rid off them is not new at all, but shocks and scares everytime anew.
STOP ARRESTATIONS AND HARRASSMENT! BURN ALL DETENTION CENTERS! FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT FOR ALL!
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Les 11 personnes originaires du Soudan, qui avaient été arrêtées le 28 novembre ont été relâchées hier matin !
petit aperçu de ce qui s’est passé entre-temps :
après leur violente arrestation à calais en face de la jungle soudanaise, où on ne leur a même pas laisser la possibilité de prendre leurs papiers qui étaient dans leurs tentes (certains d’entre eux possédaient par exemple la preuve qu’ils étaient sur le point de demander l’asile en France), les personnes arrêtées ont été d’abord conduites dans le centre de détention de Coquelles et ensuite dans celui de Roissy, à côté de Paris. Elles sont arrivées à Roissy 22 heures après leur arrestation. Jusqu’à leur arrivée là-bas, pendant ces 22 heures ON NE LEUR DONNE A BOIRE NI LES MEDICAMENTS INDISPENSABLES A LEUR SURVIE !! un autre exemple que même un minimum de droits n’est pas respecté à Calais.
Lundi :
dans l’après-midi cinq d’entre eux été convoqués, mais renvoyés en centre de détention, en fait sans qu’aucune décision ne soit prise. Ils ont été relâchés lundi après le temps de détention maximum sans prolongation, soit cinq jours (ni le préfet ni le juge n’ont demandé une prolongation)
Mardi :
pendant le jugement de 6 autres personnes, le temps de détention maximum de cinq jours (le préfet n’avait pas non plus demandé de prolongation) s’était déjà écoulé et techniquement ils étaient tous libres avant même que le juge ne prenne sa décision. cela a été respecté par le tribunal et les personnes ont décidées elles-mêmes si elles voulaient attendre la décision ou partir. le juge a répété la demande faite par la préfecture de quitter le territoire français.
Les personnes arrêtées étaient déjà dégoutées par la brutalité et le caractère injustifié de leur arrestation et le fait qu’elles avaient été emmenées loin de Calais ! Elles se sentaient traitées comme des criminels et très menacées d’être déportées ! Cette tactique de créer la peur et d’envoyer les personnes en prison dans d’autres villes pour se débarrasser d’elles n’est pas nouvelle. mais elles choque et effraye a chaque fois que quelqu’un doit la vivre.
STOPPONS LES ARRESTATION ET LE HARCELEMENT ! BRÛLONS TOUS LES CENTRES DE DETENTION ! LIBERTE DE MOUVEMENT POUR TOUS !
