Calais camp raided as migrants say crackdown fuels Channel crossings

Inhabitants claim police attempts to clear wasteland leave them no option but to try to reach UK by boat

FRENCH police stormed a migrant camp in Calais yesterday in a crackdown that the inhabitants say is forcing them to risk their lives and try to cross the Channel by boat. The 9am raid was carried out by more than 50 police, some armed with assault rifles and tear gas grenade launchers, who forced dozens of people to drop their belongings and leave the wasteland some have called home for months.

One Iranian man clashed with an officer in riot gear and was pushed to the ground as his tent was being taken away. Afterwards, sat beside an extinguished campfire and shivering in the rain, he said: “I’ve had enough. I don’t have a choice any more. I must try by boat. To die at sea is better than living here.”

At least three people were taken into custody, including an Iranian who posted videos online about his displeasure at the treatment by French police. “They just do this to make trouble,” said a 35-year-old called Ahmad. “There is no sense. We are not the smugglers. They are targeting the people.” Officers from the local and national police began sweeping through the field where upwards of 150 people were living, wielding batons and ordering them to leave.

Pushchairs, blankets and tents were all abandoned as the migrants were forced into a small pocket of scrubland on the roadside. Police loaded an entire truck with possessions, and took to dragging tents into the back of a van. During the hour-long operation, a man called Aziz, who had fled Iraq, said: “We have been forced to leave our country. Now we are being forced to leave our camp. We just need a safe place to live. Is that too much to ask?”

The Daily Telegraph was the only media organisation present as police dismantled the majority of the camp, just a mile away from the infamous “jungle” site which housed more than 6,000 migrants in 2016.

Officers on the ground would not comment on the operation, instead saying that we were liable for arrest for trespassing. Later, a police spokesman said: “The objective is also to preserve order and public security [for] both the people of Calais and the migrants themselves, particularly with regard to smugglers.”

Figures from Human Rights Observers and L’auberge des Migrants show that in October there were 78 separate camp clearances in Calais.

So far, more than 110 people have been picked up by British authorities in the Channel, and dozens more are understood to have reached the UK undetected.