Over the past two years, activists in Calais have been intervening in and documenting police raids, arrests, beatings, evictions and destruction of property, as part of campaign of resistance against the war on migrants Calais.
They have physically intervened with their bodies; built and defended barricades; and alerted sans-papiers to enable them to escape. Aware of the apparently endless resources being channelled into a brutal border enforcement policy, activists wanted to explore all possible avenues to fighting the repression, including legal ones.
Having carefully documented the tactics used against migrants in the region, we compiled this information in a dossier of evidence, which was submitted to France's new Human Rights Ombudsman on his first day in office. He has since launched a public inquiry into policing there, and although we aren't so delusional to think that this is going to end this war, we have seen levels of violence drop since his announcement.
Depending on the results, we may also go further down the legal avenues if that's what it takes.
The English version of our report is now available here:
http://calaismigrantsolidarity.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/english-dossier.pdf.
It also presents background to the situation in Calais and an exploration of the politics that informs the policy played out in the region.
Having carefully documented the tactics used against migrants in the region, we compiled this information in a dossier of evidence, which was submitted to France's new Human Rights Ombudsman on his first day in office. He has since launched a public inquiry into policing there, and although we aren't so delusional to think that this is going to end this war, we have seen levels of violence drop since his announcement.
Depending on the results, we may also go further down the legal avenues if that's what it takes.
The English version of our report is now available here:
http://calaismigrantsolidarity.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/english-dossier.pdf. It also presents background to the situation in Calais and an exploration of the politics that informs the policy played out in the region.
