An Egyptian squat was evicted this morning and demolished instantly. The squat has been home to about 30 people for the last 6 months+, with sometimes 50+ people living crammed together during the winter period.
Everyone was made to leave the building at about 9am this morning, taking with them what they could instantly carry. The rest was taken by city workers to the dump.
This was the last remaining squat amongst a demolished street by old Africa House on rue Descartes. It is no longer just a matter of raids and evictions… now systematic demolitions are becoming the norm.
It seems these demolitions must be part of a wider centralised planning effort by the town hall, as a more systematic attack to eradicate people’s means of shelter.
On the surface evictions have a friendlier face, and are not as frequently aggressive as they were in the past because of the pressure that’s been mounting against policing in Calais [see this border kills-]… but whether by employing physical aggression or not, Calais’ gatekeepers are still hell bent on making life unlivable for ‘unwanted foreigners’ in the city, now it seems focused on totally obliterating living spaces, demolishing them altogether more frequently, leaving no chance for people to re-enter, making people constantly having to move and tiring people down.
But, of course, people will not give up easily. The journey this far into Europe is long, people have escaped the brutality of many regimes and will continue to resist this one. People did not get here by lying down. So no matter how hard they try to cleanse this city… their fences will be jumped, their controls will continue to be evaded and when they destroy one home… another will be occupied.
Published on Calais Migrant Solidarity
Documenting police harassment of migrants in Calais and strengthening resistance against the border regime [http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/4148/]
