Migrant encampment in Ouistreham: "We are loudly demanding decent accommodation here, near the crossing point"

In Ouistreham, the migrants are almost exclusively Sudanese.

How many are there today?

Philippe, from the Citizens in Struggle association.

They are between 40 and 60. It fluctuates, according to the passages, because they come and go between Ouistreham (Calvados) and Calais (Pas-de-Calais). Some are sedentary because they are asylum seekers. There are about ten of them. The situation has been fairly stable since the first deconfinement. Before, there were more of them. At the first confinement, they were 69 confined to the Tailleville manor (opened by the prefecture), and they were about 10 in a squat in Hérouville (near Caen). For a year and a half, we have therefore fallen to 40-60 people. The situation has stabilized. It is quiet.

Their makeshift camp, a few hundred meters from the port, is fairly “settled”, the number of migrants is stable… If nothing better, is the current situation easier to manage than a few years ago, where migrants had become a big topic of tension in the city?

Let's say that when the migrants arrived in mid-2017, they were scattered around Ouistreham, sleeping under bus shelters, sometimes in front of residential doors.

They were outside.

In summer, some even took shelter under straw in the fields!

It was also very dangerous.

For associations and individuals, it was difficult to intervene.

There, they are gathered in an encampment.

Even if they are in extremely precarious survival conditions, it makes it a bit easier to help them.

“We had opened 2 abandoned houses.

It gave them access to drinking water and sanitation.

They were evacuated.

"

Philippe, from the association Citizens in Struggle

There is still this problem of water, since there is no water point near the camp ...

With another collective, we opened 2 long-standing abandoned houses in Ranville, ten minutes by bike from Ouistreham.

It gave them access to drinking water and sanitation.

Unfortunately, on October 19, ten days before the winter break, these places were evacuated by the authorities.

Since that day, they no longer have access to water and conditions have become even more complicated.

You should know that these houses have been uninhabited for more than five years.

We could at least have let them spend the winter in these homes.

The associations therefore supply the camp.

Every day in winter, we deliver 300 liters of water.

It takes us about three hours.

It's a big load.

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When the migrants arrived in Ouistreham, there was fear that a new Calais would develop.

This is not the case.

And will it never be?

Ouistreham will not be a second Calais.

Anyway, here, the passages in the ferry terminal are very difficult.

There is a lot of money spent on putting in sophisticated machines to detect human heat or heartbeat.

Truck checks are now systematic, so illegal crossings are extremely rare.

The exiles know this well, and there will never be 500 or 1000 here.

The proof is that their number remains stable in Ouistreham.

What can we hope for improvement in Ouistreham today?

We are loudly calling for a decent accommodation center here in Ouistreham.

The exiles, for the most part, want to go to England.

We therefore ask for this center near the crossing point.

Today, for example, the authorities are offering a structure in Caen.

It's too far.

It's like in Calais.

The solutions are too far from the places of passage.

It doesn't interest them.

And while waiting for this center in Ouistreham or nearby, we ask for a water point, toilets and showers near the camp.

"A dismantling of the camp would be catastrophic"

Philippe, from the association Citizens in Struggle

There are proceedings against the encampment.

Where we are ?

Can things go fast?

Yes, it can go fast.

We believe that the Council of State will deliver its conclusions within a few weeks.

Then, there will surely be a procedure initiated in the Judicial Court by the owner of the area, the regional mixed union of Norman Ports.

They are powerful.

It will be difficult to defend yourself, so the camp is under tension.

In a scenario where the camp was dismantled, what would happen to these migrants?

We would return to the initial situation, that of May 2017. The exiles would have no solution to wander in the city.

It would be catastrophic.

Here, today, they are grouped together.

There is no insecurity.

You can come at any time of the day or night, there is no theft, no mugging, nothing.