The French authorities may be preparing for a new round of attacks on the self-managed “Jungle” refugee camp in Calais, where over 5,000 people still live despite the last wave of evictions in March.
On Monday the mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchard, made a statement to French mainstream media announcing that the remaining “North Zone” of the Jungle self-organised refugee camp will be destroyed “very soon” (“très prochainement”). The Prefect (local representative of the central government) reacted saying that the state “has not changed its view that an unsanitary camp is not a project of life”.
Earlier this year, the authorities announced that they would clear the jungle in stages, with the South Zone wiped out in the Spring, and the rest to follow by the Summer. The official position was that 1500 migrants would be moved into the fenced “Container Camp” built on part of the site and run by NGO La Vie Active, 400 women and children in the “Jules Ferry” centre next door (run by the same NGO), and the rest scattered to “reception centres” around France.
What actually happened was that the majority of those cleared from the “South Zone” just crowded into the “North Zone”, with still more people arriving so numbers continue to grow. Even the Prefecture now acknowledges 4,500 people are living in the “North Zone”; the charities say 6,000. Even if people want to accept official accommodation in a near prison-camp, there is no room.
As so many times before, the politicians will order another display of force to show they are in control, the cops will come with their teargas and flashballs, the bulldozers will follow, and after the dust has settled people will return to make new precarious shelters where they can.
Mayor Bouchart, when asked by the French press, would not give any clear dates or specifics. And this comes just after the Prefecture announced plans with the UK state to build a 4m wall sealing off the Jungle from the motorway, suggesting that maybe they don’t anticipate any immediate “final solution” for the camp.
Nearby, French cops continue to clear smaller camps along the coastal area, such as the Steenvorde (Hazbrouck) settlement on Monday.