The opening of this “SAS” was announced on November 3rd by the boss of the French Office for Immigration and Integration, sent in mediation to Calais by the government to negotiate with three associations.
Le Monde with AFP
Nearly 1,400 migrants were welcomed in one week in a “temporary reception center” – 300 camp beds in two hangars – open every night by the state in Calais, noted, Wednesday, November 10, The prefecture.
Large white tents have been installed in these two heated sheds, located in the Industrial Zone of Calais, about 4 kilometers from the city center, already open in winter in recent years, depending on the climatic conditions.
Migrants are routed by bus. On site, they have a snack, electrical outlets to recharge their phone, sanitary, toothbrush and pair of flip flops. On the walls, posters recall the dangers related to the crossing of the handle aboard a fortune boat.
Migrants can spend a night, but they must leave the premises at 8:30. On average, 197 people are welcomed every night; 1,380 were welcomed in one week, according to the prefecture. They are, if they wish, then redirected to more perennial accommodations outside Calais. “We are on a temporary structure that aims to make exceptional welcome. It is a site that is not intended to be sustainable”, insists Véronique Deprez-Boudier, sub-prefect of Calais.
A device that does not convince the associations or the municipality
The opening of this “SAS” was announced on 3 November by the boss of the French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII), Didier Leschi, sent in mediation in Calais by the Government for Negotiate with several associations on hunger strikes that denounce state policy for migrants. More than 300 members of Emmaus started on Wednesday morning a “symbolic fasting” of twenty-four hours in support of these strikers.
This device, decided by the State in response to the recriminations of associations on the living conditions of migrants in Calais, convinces neither associations nor the municipality. “It’s not enough”, says Ludivine Colas, Utopia Coordinator 56. “Three hundred places can not meet the needs of 1,500 people on Calaisis. We would also like a device (…) that allows [migrants] to rest over several days, “she says. “It’s always it’s taken, but it’s really insufficient”, Tance Pierre Roques, coordinator of the migrant hostel.
For its part, the mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, fearing the reconstruction of a new “jungle” in his city, asked for the “deletion” of that airlock, which she considers to be a device “doomed to failure “.