The vice-president of the Hauts-de-France region, Franck Dhersin, reacted on franceinfo after the sinking of a migrant boat which left 27 dead off Calais.
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After the sinking of a migrant boat off Calais (Pas-de-Calais) which left at least 27 dead on Wednesday, November 24, Franck Dhersin, vice-president of the Hauts-de-France region and mayor of Tétéghem, near Dunkirk, blamed the smugglers on franceinfo. “They are the criminals. I also blame the English because the heads of these smugglers are in London. They are the ones who earn the money and reinvest it in the City. They buy restaurants, buildings, it is there there is a problem and we have to tell Boris Johnson. “
Franck Dhersin insists on the responsibility of the English in these networks of smugglers : “we can stop 500, it is not them that must be stopped, they are the little hands. We must do as we did with Al Capone, we need tax audits, follow them and ask them to prove how they earned this money! “, he got upset. If the English do this job, “there will be no more smugglers because there will be no more mafia bosses to pay them”, according to him.
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Franck Dhersin explained that “this boat left from Loon-Plage near Dunkirk”, with more than 50 migrants on board. “Twenty-seven bodies have been recovered but there will unfortunately be more victims”, he judged, considering that we “will not find anyone alive” because the water is too cold.
The situation has been tense for several months on the coast, but according to the elected official it is impossible to stop these attempts at crossings. “These people have traveled 5,000 kilometers. When you get to Calais, you see the English coast! They feel like they just have to swim and take a small boat to get there”, he explained. “How do you want to stop people who have nothing to lose? It’s war in their countries!”