Trying times in Calais, but our volunteers are amazing
Today we’d like to thank our current team of volunteers in Calais, for doing the most incredible job in the most horrific of circumstances. In the last week refugees in Calais have faced particularly some violent, traumatising events. A young Sudanese man was killed when he fell under a lorry’s wheels, just a few days after another Sudanese refugee died after being hit by traffic. A mass eviction in Calais left hundreds without shelter and spare clothes, this coming just two weeks after another huge eviction in Dunkirk. And the authorities ploughed up one of our main distribution sites, making …
Distributing urgently-needed tents in Calais
Today our volunteers in Calais have been truly amazing, handing out tents to deperate people after new mass eviction in Calais left hundreds of refugees without any shelter. French police entered the site this morning, herding crowds of frightened men, women and children onto waiting buses to be driven away to holding centres. Many did not have time to pack their things, meaning they left behind valuable items and documents. The eviction was all the more painful to the people at the site because it came just 24 hours after one of their friends, a young man from Sudan who …
Migrant evictions – March update
Nothing happened overnight. It was tense but quiet. We have heard from a journalist that the French Embassy says that something is in progress to put migrants in containment centres, but they are not ready yet. The prefecture in Dunkirk is tweeting that the migrants are going to go into centres, but that it will be voluntarily. It could be an excuse. If the migrants move voluntarily and the authorities then cut down on food and stop showers they can’t be criticised, or if it’s voluntary and the refugees don’t go, the authorities can say: “No-one can say we are …