About fifty people gathered near the port of Calais on Wednesday evening in tribute to the 31 migrants who died in the sinking of their boat in the English Channel, AFP journalists noted.
"Calais, inhuman and degrading treatment"
,
"Calais, human rights outraged, broken, martyred"
, can we read on the signs.
Read alsoMigrants: at least 31 dead in the sinking of a boat off Dunkirk
"Darmanin, murderer, you have blood on your hands"
,
"Shame, Bouchart
(the mayor of the city, editor's note),
Calais becomes a hearse"
, also chant the demonstrators.
"It annoys us to see the politicians say that it is the smugglers' fault instead of taking their responsibilities in relation to the situation in Calais"
, Tances Clara, among the demonstrators who lit little candles.
"We are there to meditate because we are sad, because we are tired of counting the dead,"
adds the 25-year-old activist.
For Lucie, a volunteer in Calais,
"we should set up a secure passage for these people in England in a controlled manner to prevent even more deaths." "There is a lot of emotion tonight, it's the biggest drama at sea,"
said the young woman. When migrants tell him about their objective to cross the Channel,
“we don't encourage them, we don't stop them either. It is their choice. We just give them dignity here for the time that remains, ”she
explains.
“With increasingly high barriers, this drama was to be expected, it's maddening. They already had no accommodation yesterday and today they are lifeless
,
”
laments Anne, a resident of Calais.
Of the 31 deceased migrants, there are five women and a girl, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
Two migrants survived.
Their inflatable boat, a fragile and dangerous “long boat”, deflated during the crossing off Calais.
