Three processions of French lorry drivers, farmers, shopkeepers and port workers converged at the mouth of the Eurotunnel on Monday and threatened to maintain a blockade of the A16 motorway until the government provides a target date for the demolition of the Calais migrant camp known as "the Jungle".
The camp’s population has reached an all-time high of some 10,000.
When interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve visited the Jungle – whose official name is the "Camp de la Lande" – on Friday, September 2nd, he promised to shut it down, but gave no deadline.
The jihadist attacks of June and July distracted attention from the Jungle, but it never went away. Mr Cazeneuve made the same promise last winter, when police razed the southern part of the camp amid dramatic scenes of burning shacks and weeping migrants. Most of its inhabitants simply relocated to the northern half of the camp.
Construction ban
The Jungle is located on wasteland outside Calais and is classified a Seveso hazardous waste site due to pollution from nearby factories. It had 6,500 inhabitants in October 2015. Their number dwindled to 4,500 in June, but more than doubled over the summer.
There are now an estimated 10,000 migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea, Syria and Sudan living on half the surface area covered by the camp a year ago. Water and latrines are in short supply. Police have banned all construction materials, so new arrivals are forced to live in tents only. On the night of August 22nd-23rd, one man was killed and six were seriously wounded in a battle between some 400 Afghans and 400 Sudanese, according to the Alliance police syndicate.
Yesterday’s demonstration mobilised about 1,000 people, the first large-scale demonstration by local residents.
"Either the government doesn't realise how serious the situation is, or it doesn't know what to do and its inaction is a confession of impotence," Natacha Bouchart, the mayor of Calais, told Le Monde.
Mr Cazeneuve discussed Calais with Frans Timmermans, vice-president of the EU commission, in Paris, while the demonstration continued. “EU efficiency alone can provide a true response to this crisis,” the minister said.
The demonstrators also demand greater security for the port ring road, where migrants attempt to board lorries bound for Britain.
“Mr Cazeneuve says he’ll shut the camp, but we need security now,” said David Sagnard, president of the local branch of the national federation of road transport (FNTR). “If the camp is not dismantled for three months, there will be more attacks on drivers and individuals in the meantime.”
Fabienne Buccio, the prefect of the department who ordered the demolition of the southern jungle last March, pleaded for time when she received a dozen local citizens’ representatives yesterday. Ms Buccio said it was important that she support her decision to dismantle the camp with impeccable legal arguments.
Infestation
Last month, Ms Buccio attempted to shut down 72 “illegal commerces” in the Jungle on the grounds that they are rat-infested fire hazards that serve spoiled food, and do not have construction permits or pay tax.
That expulsion order was rejected by Judge Jean-Francois Molla in Lille, who noted that “these shops, cafes and restaurants” are meeting places for migrants who “live in conditions of extreme precariousness and despair”.
According to the Alliance police syndicate, some 20 migrants manage to cross to England each night. But French authorities have argued persuasively that the crossing is life-threatening and chances of success are tiny. An increasing number apply for asylum in France.
Asylum-seekers are supposed to be lodged in “welcome and orientation centres” (CAOs) elsewhere in France while their applications are considered. Some 5,400 migrants have been transferred from Calais to CAOs in the past 11 months.
Last March, most of those expelled from the southern Jungle refused to move to CAOs. Now they sleep in the road where the coaches come to fetch applicants, in the hope of finding a place. Many are sent back to the Jungle for want of space.
Anti-British feeling runs high following the Brexit vote. Former president Nicolas Sarkozy wants France to renegotiate the Le Touquet accords, which he signed in 2003, to force Britain to establish a closed camp in England for asylum seekers from Calais.
