Brutal migrant evictions in Calais are now a hardy perennnial story for SchNEWS, but unfortunately the French authorities policy against the migrants waiting to make the hop across the channel hasn't softened in the slightest.
On Wednesday morning (15th), around 60 men were made homeless in Calais, France, after the eviction of the main migrant squat, known as Africa House (mark V), on land part owned by a social housing association. The unseasonably sunny day happened to be the first official day of the warm season in France, meaning the 'winter truce' – where evictions are postponed on the grounds of 'humanity' – comes to an end.
After vanloads of CRS riot cops arrived at around 7am and blocked off the road, activists raised the alarm for sleeping migrants with whistles. Those without papers were able to leave, with whatever they could grab and carry, and noone was arrested. For those with papers, the do-gooders from the social housing association promised they could provide housing, missing the obvious point that they could have chosen not to force people onto the streets – where violence, police harrassment, and arrests are common - in the first place. With only nine rooms available in the city and others scattered around the north of France, the likelihood of many migrants getting adequate accomodation is virtually nil.
In the following two hours, NoBorders activists attempted to collect as many useable tents, sleeping bags and personal effects that they could, darting uncomfortably between the CR-aSsholes with one particular specimen calling SchNEWS Calais correspondent a 'putain' (whore) as he walked past.
The blatant police racism was exposed again when one black man, in possesion of French identification which he produced on demand, was made to leave the site while white activists were allowed to remain. When challenged, the CRS boss squirmed when she realised she couldn't make any excuses for herself.
What had been a delapidated and makeshift home, but none the less a place where people have slept, eaten and gathered with friends round fires for the last four months, was emptied in the latest wave of the brutal programme of clearing migrants from the city.
For more http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/