Faced with the recent increase in attempts by migrants to cross the Channel in recent weeks, the Decathlon stores in Calais (Pas-de-Calais) and Grande-Synthe (Nord) - where a large migrant camp has been dismantled this Tuesday - have decided to withdraw from their shelves canoes, kayaks and other boats.
The information, revealed by La Voix du Nord, was confirmed to us by the store, which explains "no longer allowing the purchase of boats - kayaks in particular - which could endanger the lives of people using it in the course of of a crossing ”.
"We are committed to never putting our customers at risk in the use of our products, whatever the circumstances," says the brand.
Lately, many migrants stuck in Calais are taking all the risks through often unsuitable boats to reach England with the hope of finding a better life there.
In early November, a makeshift boat with around 40 migrants on board capsized, killing at least one.
Three others were missing last Thursday, after trying to cross the Channel in a kayak, according to La Voix du Nord.
In October, the prefecture supervised the purchase of fuel to take away
This decision by Decathlon France, taken in consultation with its local teams, was not sponsored by the Pas-de-Calais prefecture, which last October, however, supervised the take-away sale of fuel in order to limit the possibility to migrants. to use boats equipped with outboard motors.
The sub-prefect of Calais, Véronique Deprès-Boudier, advises La Voix du Nord of the difficulty of "legally framing" a ban on the sale of small boats.
It notes the limited effect of such a measure, since nautical equipment, “also sold by supermarkets”, is easily found “on online sales platforms”.
To read also "This is my last chance": in Calais, the desperate attempts of migrants to cross the Channel before winter
In Grande-Synthe, a few kilometers from Calais, the police began on Tuesday the dismantling of a camp of about a thousand migrants in Grande-Synthe (North), against a background of tension between Paris and London around the issue of migration and the challenge to the treatment of exiles on the French coast.
In Calais, two activists have been on hunger strike since October 11 to denounce the “inhuman” treatment reserved for migrants and to demand a moratorium on dismantling.
The government sent a mediator there to try to calm the situation, without success.