Four deputies from La France Insoumise carried out a symbolic action on Friday by bringing some packed lunches to migrants in the city center of Calais, to protest against the ban on associations not mandated by the State to distribute them drinks and food, noted an AFP correspondent.
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While a decree taken on September 10 by the prefect of Pas-de-Calais prohibited associations, until the end of the month, the distribution of meals to migrants in certain streets of the city center, elected officials led under a icy wind a short maraud in the city center, accompanied by some local LFI activists.
Believing that the meals distributed "
legally
" by the association la Vie Active, mandated by the State, "
were less elaborate
" than those served by the other associations, the deputy LFI Ugo Bernalicis denounced "
the health barrier operated by the prefecture and the town hall of Calais which prevent the migrants from being fed properly
”.
"
Duty of solidarity
"
MEP Anne-Sophie Pelletier, accompanied by the other MEP Manon Aubry and MEP Mathilde Panot, insisted "
on the duty of solidarity and hospitality that France and Europe must exercise
".
"
Active Life distributes two meals a day to migrants, the queues are very long and you have to wait several hours to get your meal, women and children are afraid to come to these distributions
" she said. lamented.
The elected officials were subject to an identity check by the plainclothes police present on the scene.
Tuesday, the administrative court of Lille had rejected the request of NGOs and associations of aid to migrants to suspend as a matter of urgency this prefectural decree, which constitutes according to them an attack on fundamental freedoms.
The services of the State, which estimate at a thousand the number of migrants present in Calais and in the surroundings with the hope of reaching England, justify this ban by the disturbances to public order caused by the distributions and the fact that they would not allow proper compliance with social distancing measures.