2012 eviction in Calais. Photo: CMSIn January this year, French riot police (CRS) started placing eviction notices at migrant camps in Calais announcing that, following the opening of a new day centre for migrants, riot police would forcefully evict the camps inhabited by up to 2,000 individuals. It was subsequently announced that the centre would be opened by the Interior Minister of France this coming weekend, on 11th April.
The last few days of March saw about 1,200 people move from camps and squats in and around the city centre to an authority-designated site 7km out of Calais, in what solidarity groups are terming a ‘silent eviction’.
For years, Calais has been home to migrants from some of the most crisis-hit parts of the world, including Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Syria. From 1999-2002 the infamous warehouse in Sangatte aimed to meet the needs of 2,000 migrants in Calais, but lack of Red Cross resources and limited space (it was designed for 500), coupled with an increase in the number of people arriving in Calais, meant its humanitarian efforts fell far short. At the same time, racist and anti-immigrant sentiment in then-Interior Minister Sarkozy’s department and similar pressure from the UK government led to the closure of Sangatte in 2002 to ‘discourage’ migrants from coming to Calais.
