The Pas-de-Calais prefecture again extended Monday, August 23 the decree prohibiting the distribution of food and drinks in part of the city center of Calais, a measure decried by associations of aid to migrants, initially taken on September 10, 2020 and continually extended for a year.
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Already extended twelve times, each time for about a month, this decree runs this time until September 20, 2021. It prohibits “
any free distribution of drinks and foodstuffs in certain sectors of Calais
”, including in particular the quays of the downtown and around the station, by associations not mandated by the State.
According to the press release from the prefecture, it aims to limit gatherings favorable to the spread of Covid-19 "
in a fragile health context marked by the spread of the delta variant
" but also to prevent "
disturbances to public order
". The prefecture emphasizes that the state mandates the association La Vie active to distribute meals to migrants and that an average of 2,510 meals have been distributed every day since the beginning of August.
In mid-August, the prefecture estimated at around 900 the number of migrants present in Calais, in the hope of reaching England. A dozen associations contesting the motivations of the initial decree and judging it to be contrary to the principle of fraternity had unsuccessfully seized the administrative court of Lille then the Council of State in interim relief, but neither one nor the other had suspended him.