Urgent call out as France's far right mobilise on the streets of Calais

Tomorrow, Friday 21st Feb, fascists have called an all-day demonstration outside a new squat in Coulogne, near the French port town of Calais. This is the accumulation of five days of heavy fascist activity in the area. People are urgently needed tomorrow and over the coming week as it is expected they will try to increase their numbers and pressure.

Things aren't looking good in Calais, the hotspot of police repression of undocumented migrants and home to an active migrant solidarity activist network.

Recently murmurs of fascist activity have developed into a proper fascist mobilisation, focusing on a squatted building in the nearby area of Coulogne. The farmhouse was squatted last week, but since Sunday evening around 40-45 fascists and angry neighbours have had an almost constant presence outside the building.

Their actions this week have ranged from shouting insults at the people inside, throwing rocks and fireworks, and just standing there for hours on end - see them on video here. At 7am on Tuesday morning three fascists, who had been out drinking all night, tried to break into the squat with a sledgehammer. Two were arrested – but they'd had half an hour of sledgehammer fun before the cops arrived.

The back story? In the last few months a racist anti-migrant group, ‘Sauvons Calais’ (Save Calais) has mobilised in Calais to ‘defend Calais from migrants’ and are vehemently opposed to 'pro-migrant' associations. So far their Facebook- orchestrated efforts have been hampered by low turn-outs, although the tide now seems to be changing, with fighting talk around the Coulogne squat in particular. They have a remarkable likeness to the EDL, including their call outs for mobilisation, 'no surrender' and their assertions that they are stepping in where the authorities have failed regarding (non-existent) threats posed by non-Europeans.

SchNEWS spoke to a squatter who was frequently distracted by the fascist siege unfurling right outside (“Oh, they seem to be trying to destroy the fence...”). She stressed this was different to other threats from the fascist group over the previous months and that the squat was vulnerable. “They're not disappearing, they're still coming.” As the numbers increase, the situation is getting more hostile rather than calming down.

“More support is needed to defend the new squat. Any support tomorrow and over the weekend would be great.”

If you are hoping to arrive over the coming days -

Call 07448002652

Buses go from the theatre in Calais centre to Coulogne. Please call before you get onto the bus so someone can give you directions and an update on the situation.