LOPP-SIDED IN CALAIS

SchNEWS got the low-down this week from Calais Migrant Solidarity activists about the latest developments in Calais in light of police crack downs, CRS strikes and the soon-to-be-introduced fascist security law ‘LOPPSI II’.

The new year started with a tragedy as two Palestinians jumped into a sewer to escape arrest, and never emerged. “There appears to be no investigation into their disappearance and the police are being incredibly vague about the incident,” one reports.

Later in the month CRS riot cops staged a one-week strike to protest the cutting of their numbers - but far from being good news for the persecuted migrants, the CRS made twice as many arrests the week before for fear of falling short of their quota.

The rolling programme of raids, harassment and beatings also continued, but mass arrests at a food distro site at the beginning of February suggested that the CRS were trying a change of tack. Activists report overhearing cop-talk to the affect that squat raids weren’t being effective enough.
A week later two Palestinians were seriously injured falling from the first floor of a building to escape police. The cops told the media that the men were fleeing from a fire. The next day, another man was rushed to hospital after a similar incident.

The new Africa House is on eviction alert over the coming months, and activists and migrants are in need of tents, tarps, clothes and other materials to help prepare. There is also a wider concern over the affect of the new ‘LOPPSI II’ law on the migrant population. The law is a multifaceted attack on civil liberties in France, but the worry in the Calais jungles is the increased powers for the deportation of migrants accused of acting or speaking against the state.