Within the past few days the refugee camp at Calais, known as the ‘jungle’ has turned into a scene from a war movie. The police arrived at dawn on Monday and ever since the shelter there have been taken to by bulldozers and sledgehammers, destroying all in their path.
Many of those in the camp have faced eviction before. Calais, which sees the entrance of the Channel Tunnel, has been renowned for its constant springing up of camps where thousands take refuge. Just last year they were ordered to move to a new area and were promised that they wouldn’t be evicted, but now, as we watch how the inhabitants are being asked to leave one by one or face arrest, we are seeing that promise being broken.
I have read time and time again that it’s not a bad thing the french authorities are sorting the camps out, but they’re not solving the issue by simply moving the refugees on. They are not being homed or helped, they are just being discarded from their shelter. These people are only there in the first place due to upheaval in their home countries, so how dare we continue this trend and destroy everything these people have in front of their very eyes.
Of course, you’d hear those complain that they aren’t claiming asylum in France, but can you blame them? From arriving in the country they have been living in a tent which has been under the threat of demolition for a long while and the conditions there haven’t exactly been too luxurious. France also has a terrible rate of asylum applications, in fact, it’s one of the lowest in Europe altogether. Add that to the fact that many of these refugees will speak more English than they do French, along with the idea that Britain is the home of democracy and that people in Britain will be more compassionate towards them and you can begin to see why they’re risking everything to come here.
Estimates say that there are 3,500 people living in the southern part of the camp, which is the first section to be demolished. With no further places to go, the french authorities are simply creating a bigger headache for themselves when they find 3,500 more people now displaced. They claim that they are moving people to newly converted accommodation and dormitories, but there is simply not enough spaces in the dormitories and the accommodation is set to close at the beginning of April.
Tear gas is being fired all around, all the while the French authorities are calling this a “humanitarian intervention”. If that is the case, I ask: where is the humanity?
