French police officers direct a migrant in the remains of the Jungle Camp near Calais, on 27 October 2016. Emilio Morenatti/Press Association. All rights reserved.
Late last month, on Monday, 24 October 2016, the French authorities began the demolition of the Calais refugee camp and the eviction of its residents. Whilst this settlement was makeshift and temporary in various respects, it was a place of life and social stability for more than 10,000 people, a thriving town with shops, restaurants, schools, and religious and community centres. It was also a place of uncertainty and precarity, characterised by increasingly coercive police interventions.
