Calais: Emergency situation, all squats and camps will be evicted in the next few days!

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On May 27th, the three main camps of Calais will be destroyed by the police. More than 600 people live in these camps, which were won through constant migrant struggle after a long series of evictions. No solution has been proposed for the evicted migrants. Moreover, a social center and two further squats are up for eviction starting on May 30th. All told, more than 800 people will be put on to the street.

In this stopping point on the way to England, squatting is the only housing solution that exists. It is also a tool of resistance for migrants to protect themselves from violence and police harassment in the camps and in the city. Today, the mayor of Calais’s fight against squatting has reached a new low. This time she has proposed a law which would change the 48 hour period in which squats must be evicted (which is not officially set down in French law). We know very little about the content of this law, only that it will attack the right to housing for all. The entire future of squatting in France is endangered by this law. [Read More]

Update on Situation in Calais

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The mayor of Calais, Natach Bouchart has decided on the evictions of the two main camps, known as the Syria Camp and Eritrea Camp. Despite these names, these camps are home to members of many different communities. There are over 300 people in the Syrian Camp in front of Salam, and the Eritrean camp has also undergone a massive influx recently, potentially doubling the number of inhabitants in the last weeks. Migrants of all the communities know about the eviction threat.

The three No Borders squats, opened at the end of February, are also facing eviction at the end of May. These three squats are also providing homes for many people, especially since the eviction of the Sudanese Jungle in mid April. The loss of these buildings will only add to the number of people sleeping in the already overcrowded camps. [Read More]

Calais: Squat Evictions Planned for May 30th

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We are a group of people from different countries and different political backgrounds who are fighting for the right to housing for everyone , whatever their origin. Since the end of February we have held three empty public buildings, abandoned by the DPO of Calais on Rue de Vic, Rue Auber and Rue Massena. Although there are no plans for these houses, the DPO has engaged in legal proceedings and the court has ruled that the buildings are to be vacated on 30th May

Since the end of February, in the three squats, lives have been created and many links with neighbors have been built. These are temporary places, but necessary. Solidarity and housing are crucial for survival in daily life.

We demand that the sub-prefect do not send the police or intervene on May 30 or the following days, to forcefully evict these three occupied buildings. [Read More]

Calais: Sudanese jungle evicted by the police

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This morning at around 6am, as the sun came up, the camp known as the Sudanese jungle was evicted by the police. Following a tip off received this week suggesting the camp would be evicted and after speaking to the community who lived there, people in the camp and of the no borders collective were there doing morning watch.

The police came in incredibly large numbers, there were around 30 to 40 vehicles that came to carry out the eviction. Around 18 cars, 12 CRS vans and 6 arrest vans. They came to the jungle from four different directions, lining the motorway, to catch people that were running away. However, many people managed to avoid arrest and escape, because they had warning from the morning patrols that the police were on their way. [Read More]

Calais: Defend the Squats, Defend Ourselves, Defend the 62

On April 13 the groups “Jeunesse Identitaire” and “Sauvons Calais” (Save Calais- who were responsible for multiple attacks on a squat in Calais including throwing molotovs in an attempt to burn down the house), as well as local fascists and known Neo Nazis from further afield are holding a demonstration at 14:30 on la Place d’Armes, a central square in Calais, against “mass immigration, insecurity, pro-migrant people and corrupt journalists”. In Calais, we know that these demonstrations are often a thinly veiled disguise for fascist elements to come together and launch attacks against squats, encampments, and individuals,as proven by Sauvons Calais’s ‘demonstrations’ at the squatted farm house which resulted in frequent and persistent stone attacks on the building and on many individuals, and the eventual burning of one out building. Small affinity groups and large mobs were able to act with impunity and without repercussion from state forces. Cops stood and laughed at the farm whilst fascists fired fireworks at the building. [Read More]

Calais: Legal situation of houses squatted last month

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The bailiff came for all the three houses – Rue Massena, Auber and Vic and issued papers.
A court date was proposed in the papers. The lawyer succeeded to delay the court procedure for all houses. A new date has been set for 1st April. They don’t give us much time at all. Houses are safe for now, they are lived in by communities and continue to be maintained and improved everyday. We continue to make the legal case.
[Published on the Calais Migrant Solidarity blog]

Calais: Communiqué, 3 impasse Leclercq re-squatted

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Hello neighbours, hello whoever concerned,

We are the people who squatted the house on 3 impasse Leclercq, Calais. On Friday February 28th, the police arrived at the house and smashed the door to get inside to the house. They use violence to get in and took all of us to the police station. Four hours later, we were all out without charges. Living in a house has nothing illegal. The police is well aware of that but they don’t respect the law in Calais. Justice has to decide if we have to go, not the police. [Read More]

Illegal Eviction of Occupied House in Calais

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The mayor of Calais ranks amongst the most extreme Right in France!

Today (28/02), an occupied house belonging to the Municipality, located at 3 Impasse Leclercq, was illegally evicted in the early afternoon despite conclusive and legally sound evidence of it having been occupied for at least three days (meaning it should be entitled to a court case and notice under french law)! The media had been informed several hours before the eviction and two leading newspapers in the area had published proof of occupation. “La Voix de Nord” published an article showing a picture of this proof, sealed registered letters with the sent date, Wednesday, February 26, 2014 in which there were testimonies and timestamped photos showing that the occupation of the building had been for longer than 48 hours. [Read More]

Calais: Come on! Come on! Communiqué regarding the occupation of a number of buildings

We are a group of people from different countries and different political backgrounds who are fighting for the right to housing for everyone, whatever their origin. We announce that we have been occupying (now for more than 48 hours), empty and abandoned public buildings in different parts of the town of Calais, and intend to continue these occupations and maintain them as “legal squats” for as long as possible:

Why here and why now? There are more than 4,000 buildings empty in Calais, which represents 9 % of homes (500 of these are the property of a single, large, housing association- the major ‘social’ landlord in the city), and yet against this backdrop more than 500 people are on the streets, out of sight of any dignified solution and used only as sound bites by politicians who proport to offer assistance and in reality offering nothing. To address this situation they (the town hall/authorities) have turned Calais into a ghost town . [Read More]

Calais: Fascist attacks continue against Rue Émile Dumont, Coulogne & call-out for assembly

UPDATE 8AM Monday 24/2:

Local Calais media are reporting the demonstration of around 50 racists continued through Sunday. The fire brigade were called after a group of men were spotted nearby by neighbours with jerrycans of petrol to prepare more molotov cocktails. [Read More]

Calais: Communiqué from people inside Rue Émile Dumont, Coulogne

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Saturday’s news from the inhabitants of 122 Rue Émile Dumont in Coulogn (suburb of Calais)

“We’re writing to you again with the latest news from the front. Our aggressors have reached a new level of violence. On Saturday 22, we were attacked by intensive volleys of stones from two in the afternoon until half past midnight. Around 4.30 pm, one man who had threatened on the fb page of ‘Sauvons Calais’ (‘Save Calais’) to kill some migrants and throw them into the canal threw a rock, from 6 metres away, which hit the neck of a friend who had gone outside to talk with some of the neighbours. When we went outside to eat in the garden, we received a rain of some 20 stones in just a few seconds. As the numerous attacks on the roof and the windows went on, the crowd shouted encouragement every time a stone hit its target. [Read More]

Calais: Fascists mobilise against squatters. International call-out for support and solidarity

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Tomorrow, Friday 21st Feb, fascists have called a day and evening demonstration outside a new squat in Coulogne. This is the accumulation of five days of heavy fascist activity in the Calais area.

In the last few months a racist anti-migrant group, ‘Sauvons Calais’ have mobilised in Calais to ‘defend Calais from migrants’. Last week people squatted a farm house in Coulogne and since Sunday evening groups of up to 50 fascists and angry neighbours have had almost a constant presence outside the building.

The fascist’s actions this week have ranged from shouting insults at the people inside, throwing rocks, fireworks and standing there for hours on end. At 7am on Tuesday morning three fascists, who had been out drinking all night tried to break into the squat with a sledge hammer. Two of them were arrested. Members of the demonstration have also been recorded making death threats against migrants. [Read More]