State services and the police expelled Friday more than 500 migrants from an industrial area of Calais (Pas-de-Calais). This evacuation, in the Dunes area, took place two days before the visit to the city of the new Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin.
"As part of this operation, new raids were carried out on the site and made it possible to offer the migrant population shelter in various reception and accommodation centers," reports the prefecture of the department in a statement.
"519 isolated people, distributed in sixteen buses, were taken care of and transported to centers located in the Hauts-de-France region and other French regions," added the prefectural press release.
“Thirteen people (families and minors) were referred to accommodation and social rehabilitation centers. Finally, twenty people in an irregular situation were arrested for placement in administrative detention, "continues the prefecture.
According to the authorities, the occupation of two grounds "in an illicit and prolonged manner by migrants in the absence of any authorization from the owners", caused "serious problems of security, sanitation and tranquility, in particular for the residents located just nearby and around. "
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According to the prefecture, “the mayor of Calais drew the attention of the state services. The owners of the land concerned seized the president of the Judicial Court of Boulogne-sur-Mer. The latter issued two eviction orders on June 10, posted Thursday by a bailiff on the occupied land, according to the prefecture. "Following the agreement of the Minister of the Interior," the prefect "decided to grant the assistance of the public force on this sector".
Several migrant aid associations denounced this operation. "The deployment of police officers ignored any cadastral limit to evict all the camps that were in the industrial area of the Dunes, as well as the other Calais camps," deplore La cabane juridique, Utopia 56 and Human rights observers in a joint press release.
"A real manhunt has been deployed to try to make the migrants disappear by taking them willingly or by force in chartered buses, to bring them to an unknown destination", denounce the three associations.
“The migrants' belongings, the precious tents, sleeping bags, blankets, firewood and all the material necessary for the survival of these men and women were collected and very often put out of use by a cleaning company in order to to make the living conditions of migrants who are sure to return even more difficult, ”add the three organizations.
The new Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, will travel to Calais on Sunday. Details on this move have not yet been released. The National Rally of Calais welcomed in a press release this coming, an "admission" according to him of "the ineffectiveness of his predecessor", Christophe Castaner. Marine Le Pen's party demands that a “zero migrant” policy be implemented in Calais “without waiting”.
