HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

SouthCoast Indymedia

Last few days in Calais

calais migrant solidarity | 23.02.2010 11:46 | Anti-racism | Migration | South Coast | World

an update of attempts to get back into the hangar, police stonewalling, occupation of calais town hall, keeping warm!

On Friday morning ,we met as had been planned outside the hangar with the Police to demand to know why we were not being allowed access to our place that we have legally rented and paid for . The « arret municpal » notice served on the hangar is of course being used as a cheap and in fact illegal justification for the hangars closure . It points out various work that needs to be done in order to satisfy the building authorities of the buildings safety and to give public access. This is in spite of the fact it was reopened as a private space.

We went to the Police to demand that he contact the subprefect to give us an explanation. The subprefect spoke with M Nettier of SOS soutiens sans papier . Without any explanation he said that we would be barred access to the hangar.

In the afternoon we gathered in front of the sub prefecture with banners denouncing the fact that the French state is ‘blowing its nose’ on basic human rights . another demanding the end to European security politics , as well as freedom of movement and equal migration rights for all, as well as a lobotomy for Eric Besson , the minister of immigration and natioanl identity .

We demanded to speak with the Prefect to obtain some kind of explanation as to why French property laws suddenly no longer apply and how it will be possible for us to carry out the necessary building work when we are being barred access to the building. The Police captain at first refused to relay the message to the Prefect. When pressed he then spoke to his superior, the answer was again no and with no reason given .We phoned to ask for an appointment with him and were then told that we had to send a letter asking to see him.

Having demonstrated for about an hour , we got bored and decided to go and occupy the Town hall since it was the Mayor Bouchart who had asked the prefect to close the space and as now we also need somewhere to stay and it seems like a nice space. We stayed for about twenty minutes before the Police arrived. They removed us by force and so we continued. On the steps ouside, six of us were arrested, but were released about an hour later .

So as far as the hangar is concerned we are in our rights to try to get it back , the chances of doing that are however very slim given a 24 hour police presence outside. A legal case is being made which we will know the result of over the next few days . It seems like the authorities are trying to keep a lid on this by just giving us a wall of silence.

We think the ‘arret municipal’ will be lifted but that this will be temporary .So how we will proceed from here is quite difficult to decide for the moment. We have decided to keep up the pressure demanding to be allowed in to do the work required to address the problems they list on the arret municipal. When we went on Saturday to try we were told that to do this work we require permission from the Mayor (who is in charge of the admin of public buildings).

We are waiting for the legal wheels to turn and its frustrating. We will know soon whether the slowness is deliberate or not, for now it's hard to determine.

So we in effect are still locked out of our hangar, we are finding ‘solutions’ but they are very likely to be temporary, we need help to keep doing this, the team who are here now are doing a brilliant job but they will leave soon .
Apart from that it's really good to be with the migrants. Just talking, exchanging and joking and playing helps to take their minds off things. I think it lifts their spririts to have us around and it's nice to be able fetch wood and get the fire going again for those left outside the BCMO (temporary cold weather shelter), and to be there to help stop the Police intimidation and reduce arrests.

Some braver of us have been sleeping out with them but are not always so well equipped to do so, so if you do come and want to sleep out bring really as much warm waterproof clothing as possible. Stuff to share would be good too. We are also continually asked for English sim cards .

IF YOU WANT TO COME TO CALAIS, CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE. CLICK ON "contact us" FOR CALAIS PHONE TO SEE WHAT'S GOING ON, WHERE TO STAY, WHAT TO BRING. ALSO CLICK ON "what we do" FOR A RUN DOWN OF THE SORT OF STUFF WE DO IN CALAIS

calais migrant solidarity
- e-mail: calaisolidarity@gmail.com
- Homepage: http://www.calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com

Comments

Hide the following 2 comments

Sim Cards

23.02.2010 13:42

The migrants seem to prefer O2 simcards for some reason

Passepartout


Sim card pt 2

23.02.2010 21:10

you can get 3+ free O2 sim cards by spending a couple of minutes on google, can be handy for donating to your 'friends' (as O2 encourage on their site).
Especially if your friends are going to calais / know soeone going to calais or are local no borderers !

Ether


Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

-->

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

South Coast [navigation.actions2016]

South Coast [navigation.actions2015]

South Coast [navigation.actions2014]

NATO 2014

South Coast Actions 2013

G8 2013

South Coast Actions 2012

Workfare

South Coast Actions 2011

2011 Census Resistance
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Occupy Everywhere

South Coast Actions 2010

Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands

South Coast Actions 2009

COP15 Climate Summit 2009
G20 London Summit
Guantánamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
University Occupations for Gaza

South Coast Actions 2008

2008 Days Of Action For Autonomous Spaces
Campaign against Carmel-Agrexco
Climate Camp 2008
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Smash EDO
Stop Sequani Animal Testing
Stop the BNP's Red White and Blue festival

South Coast Actions 2007

Climate Camp 2007
DSEi 2007
G8 Germany 2007
Mayday 2007
No Border Camp 2007

South Coast Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
Faslane
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
SOCPA
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

South Coast Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

South Coast Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

South Coast Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech