By way of Indymedia UK

The new Pashto jungle is being raided over and over, with dozens of
people arrested every time including several unaccompanied boys, some
as young as 11 or 12. Police brutality is on the increase for beatings
– a 13 years old boy has been injured in a leg by being hit with a
truncheon. The CRS have been seen again using gas.

All new camps have been destroyed. After arresting everybody who does
not manage to run or hide, the police slash the plastic covers with
knives and destroy blankets and people’s possessions. Two large urban
squats are also under constant attack and police patrol the beach and
the park arresting people there all the time.

Usually people are released after a few hours, or they have to spend
12 hours or more in the police station. They have to walk one hour to
go back, including under age children, sick and injured people and
people with papers (who have applied for asylum in
France). Increasingly people are detained for longer, lately often
taken to deportation centres other than Coquelles. They are routinely
threatened they will be deported if they do not apply for asylum in
France – to Afghanistan or other countries. Many people have finger
prints in other ‘safe’ counties from where they have transited – such
as Greece – and they may sent back there according to the Dublin2
agreements.

There is evidence of police torturing migrants in Greece, two
have been killed; illegal deportations from Greece to Turkey are a
common occurrence –and from Turkey eventually to the countries the
people are escaping from, in flagrant violation of the 1951 Convention
on Refugees

The migrants of Calais want to go to England and eventually make a
claim for asylum there. They want to live without constant fear of
arrest. Shakir said: “the public of Calais are good but the police are
a problem”. His friend Tariq said: “If I am in England I will
celebrate Christmas, but I will probably spend my Christmas in the
police station. “…Shakir is under 16. He is alone in Calais, on his
journey from Afghanistan.

URGENT ACTION IS NEEDED TO OPPOSE THE REPRESSION AND THE VIOLENCE THE
MIGRANTS ARE SUBJECTED TO

Calais Migrant Solidarity have been present on the ground all the time
since the No Borders camp in Calais (end of June).We now have an
office space and a space where people can sleep – it can get pretty
crowded though! More support is needed, especially since the
repression is escalating. With Besson’s threat to make Calais ‘a
migrant free zone’ by the end of the year in mind, we are calling for
more activists to come and support.

If you want to get involved or just would like more information,
please call 0634 810 710 or email calaisolidarity@gmail.com For more
details and updates see calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com

NOTES ON THE SITUATION OF THE MIGRANTS IN CALAIS AFTER THE
‘DIGNIFIED’ DESTRUCTION OF THE MIGRANTS’ CAMPS

Migrants: still here. At least 300 people go to food distributions in Calais . An estimate 2000 migrants have spread around the coast to safer places, or down South. The most visible result of the repressive immigration policies implemented by the French government is that life for the migrants has become unimaginably hard.

Smugglers: still here. In fact the price of a journey from Calais to
England has pretty much doubled since the destruction of the jungles:
the average cost for a ‘guarantee’ journey to the UK in the back of a
truck is now 1500 euros. This is another remarkable result of the new
immigration policies, despite the French immigration minister’s
worthless claims that the destruction of migrants camps was done ‘with
dignity’ and for ‘humanitarian reasons’, and to defeat people’s
smugglers. In fact the smugglers are profiting from people’s misery
and people are pushed further into the mafia’s hands by the desperate
conditions they are forced to live in.

Jungles: still here. The Pashto jungle has been razed to the ground,
trees included, but people are sleeping in the woods nearby. The new
camps have also been destroyed by the CRS (riot police) and people
just shelter under bits of tarpaulin. The CRS keep going there and
arrest all those who do not manage to escape, any time day or
night. After, they slash the plastic covers with knives and destroy
the blankets and people’s property. It rains a lot. Hazara jungle:
similar situation. Iranian jungle: similar situation. Kurdish
jungle: similar situation. Sudanese jungle: camp destroyed again and
again, most people have gone to the beach (shelters have been
destroyed also there) or to squats or they are trying to sleep rough
in various places.

Bridges: gone. All the people who were sleeping under bridges, where
at least they had some shelter from the rain, have moved elsewhere due
to excessive police harassment and repeated destruction of tents and
blankets.

Squats: still here. Africa house has been razed to the
ground. Ethiopia house still here but under attack by the
CRS. Recently evicted, everybody who did not manage to run or hide
arrested and all blankets and people’s property destroyed. People
returned having nowhere else to go. Calais Migrant Solidarity and than
Salam gave them new blankets and warm clothes. Later the police
returned and arrested people again… and again Another large squat
inhabited by Egyptians, Palestinians and other Arabs plus many Afghans
is also under attack.

CLIMATE JUSTICE = NO BORDERS

NO BORDERS DAY OF ACTION

14th December Copenhagen

MEET AT 11:00 @ rÃ…DHUSPLADSEN

AND MARCH TO THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
climatenoborders

COME TO CALAIS FOR CHRISTMAS!

From the 21st to the 1st January We are planning to have celebrations,
tours of jungles and squats, films, workshops and a surprise party!

NO BORDERS; NO NATIONS!

Calais Migrant Solidarity activists – Homepage: http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com