This Thursday, several migrant camps were evacuated on the coast of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Hundreds of exiles were thus sent to these accommodation centers far from the usual embarkation zones for illegal crossings to Great Britain, we learned from the prefectures of these departments.
A large police force was deployed this Thursday morning near places where migrants live, in Calais, Marck and Loon-Plage. The goal of the state services was to evacuate these camps and move the occupants as far from the coast as possible. Thus, 1,244 people were supported and offered accommodation in departments of Hauts-de-France, but also outside the region. Among them, 130 in an irregular situation were placed in administrative detention centers.
Voluntary or forced removal?
According to the prefecture, these simultaneous operations aimed to put an end to the “unworthy living conditions” of migrants in these camps, “exacerbated in recent weeks by heavy rainfall”. The State representative also assumes that it is a question of fighting against “human trafficking set up by unscrupulous smugglers who will stop at nothing to extort money from migrants”.
If the authorities highlight the principle of volunteering for people sheltered, the associations denounce the opposite: “We receive calls from many families who are on buses in Essonne or heading south , Avignon, Montpellier, and who contact us because they do not understand where they are going, and do not want to go there,” a coordinator of the Utopia 56 association told AFP.