Protesters in France want camp of migrants to be razed
CALAIS, France — Truckers, farmers, dock workers and merchants angry at the disruption caused by thousands of migrants in their midst in the northern French city of Calais blocked the main access route to Britain on Monday to press authorities to set the date to raze an overcrowded makeshift camp.
The action appeared to pay off and, despite tensions among protesters, blockades were being lifted 12 hours later after the region’s top state official reassured the huge, makeshift camp would be dismantled and funds made available for struggling businesses.
The action with several hundred big rigs and tractors on a main access route was the first major protest of its kind in the city, for decades a magnet for migrants trying to cross the English Channel, hopping Britain-bound trucks and trains to get across. Authorities have poured in police — about 2,000 — to guard roadways, and built high barbed-wire fences to protect the Eurotunnel freight trains, the port and highway, but desperate migrants are using increasingly dangerous tactics to slow trucks and hitch a ride.
The state says some 7,000 migrants are living in the camp, known as “the jungle,” while aid groups have put the number at more than 9,000. All are living in a drastically downsized camp after half was razed in March.
For the protesters, the migrants — from Africa, the Middle East and beyond — are an economic drain on Calais and a stain on its image.
“We are truckers, not migrant traffickers. Let’s liberate Calais together,” read a sign on the front of some big rigs.
One trucker’s list of complaints did not include the heavy fines truckers must pay if migrants are caught inside their vehicles.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced Friday that the government would dismantle the camp “in a controlled operation” as soon as possible, but did not say when. He also promised financial compensation for businesses losing money due to migrants.