Associations to help migrants denounced, Friday, September 16, the installation by the town hall of Calais of many rocks on several grassy areas of the city center. According to them, this aims to “prevent the installation of tents” migrants in transit to England.
Since Monday, hundreds of tons of rocks have appeared in the city, in particular on the quays of the Danube and the Meuse, two tracks located not far from the station. Long grassy areas and a median, “which served this summer as a living space” to many migrants, according to the associations, were completely covered with rocks, placed less than a meter from each other, noted an AFP photographer.
The target camp “was already evicted daily since August 3, until a very big eviction last week, during which people were moved to the Quai de la Meuse. From now on, any resettlement is impossible”deplored to AFP Pablo Ovan, communication coordinator of the association Human Rights Observers (HRO).
Other areas of the center have been “surrounded by rocks”in a way to “make distributions more difficult” of food and material by the associations, he added. In June, the town hall had already “installed fences” to drive out the exiles installed under the bridges of the city center, also denounced Pauline, another coordinator of HRO.
The Calais town hall declined to comment to AFP, explaining that it had “already expressed”. Monday, the mayor Natacha Bouchart – LR rallied to Emmanuel Macron – had assumed to be at the origin of these installations in The voice of the Northestimating the budget for laying the rocks at 45,000 euros. “If we don’t want embarrassing camps in the city center, I have to act”she said daily, citing complaints from residents, noise pollution, “a feeling of insecurity” and “unsanitary”.