Occupied now for a month and a half, the squat on Boulevard Victor Hugo was visited by the city bailiff and a vanload of CRS yesterday so that they could take the name on the house and begin legal proceedings.
One week after the beginning of the occupation, the Assistant Mayor Phillippe Mignonet showed up with police and used obvious demagogy to try and convince us of our illegitimacy, but without actually being able to do anything. The politician (who holds extremely right wing views and celebrates repression against migrants in general) told us, “I will make your life hell. It’s not a threat, it’s a promise!”
Although this may be his intention, he is in fact completely impotent in the face of our occupation. This was acknowledged by the article in the Nord Littoral newspaper entitled ‘Un groupe de No Borders indélogeable’, which stated that despite the passage of the police and the municipality it’s impossible to dislodge the squatters after 48 hours of occupation without going through a legal process.
This is the second ‘legal’ squat in Calais after Rue Caillette that the police cannot enter or evict imminently, which gives people here a bit more stability.
At the moment the space has started to flourish and many actions gravitate around it. Many neighbors have shown their support and are happy about our presence, while during the day, curious people from the street stop by and talk with us.
So far this space has been used as a work space for the kitchen and a safe space for vulnerable people in Calais, and we are looking forward to seeing how it will continue to evolve in the future.
Source: http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com
