It’s now more than one month since the occupation of the Forest House, and that the cabins replace the massively destructive machines in the forest. We are here, and good here.
In spite of the cold and the snow, in spite of the pressure exerted by the gendarmerie[1], in spite of the various attacks that we have suffered, in spite of the frequent sabotages of structures, life goes on at the Maquizad.
Background info on the struggle against the dam in Testet: 1, 2
According to a statement from squatters in the ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, during the night between Saturday and Sunday the 26th of October 2014 a protester named Remi was killed in clashes that broke out after a rally against the construction of a dam along the Sivens forest in the wetland of Testet in the Tarn department (southern France).
Around 7000 people gathered in the ZAD (zone to be defended) of Testet, after months of police attacks and destruction of the wetland and habitations of those who defend the area. In the late evening and overnight, dozens of people attacked the forces of order that were protecting the dam construction site. Activists expressed their anger trying to delay the resumption of works, originally scheduled for Monday the 27th of October.
Le Transfo has been opened in November 2012 as a big squatted social centre, with four buildings (one for inhabitation and three for activities). It was an autonomous and anarchist space. More info, here, in French.
This morning, Thursday October 23rd, 2014, at 6am, the eviction of le Transfo has begun.
– 6:00am : The cops enter the squat destroying a barricaded window on the ground floor with an excavator !
– 6:10 : The inhabitants get controlled by the police.
– 6:20 : Hundreds of policemen control the neighbourhood, blocking the street on both sides. Lots of police vans are parked in the street.
– 7:00 : Inside the squat, the cops want to arrest the people who have no identity documents to present. The inhabitants refuse that situation and say “or you arrest all of us, or you don’t arrest anyone”. [Read More]
While violence has escalated, resistance intensifies in Testet against the proposed construction of the Sivens dam. Five Forest/Wetland defenders have been buried into the roadway with only their heads and shoulders above ground in an effort to halt the destruction of a wetland area of 13 hectares, a jewel of biodiversity where 94 protected species live.
On Sunday 7 September, local fascist group ‘Sauvons Calais’ will once again try to hold a demonstration ‘against immigration’ in Calais, bringing in hardcore neo-nazis from across France. A number of high-profile fascists have already confirmed their presence including Thomas Joly (general secretary of Parti de la France), Yvan Benedetti (conseiller municipal of Vénissieux and former-member of the now banned organization L’Œuvre française), and Richard Roudier (of Réseau Identités). It is also likely that some neonazi gangs will arrive before and stay for more time after the demo to attack vulnerable people in the streets. [Read More]
Never again ?!
We thought that we had witnessed the worst in 2009 with the destruction of the Afghan jungle; the mass arrest of 278 of its inhabitants and their coordinated detention across the whole of France. However, this Wednesday 2 July 2014 the state showed how much further it can go. At 6am the CRS, PAF, Gendarme, and the Police Nationale undertook massive coordinated evictions and raids against the migrant population of Calais.
[Read More]
At 6am this morning riot and border cops accompanied by gendarmes evicted three squats housing over seventy people as well as SALAM, a food distribution point, where over five-hundred people had been sleeping outside since their camps were destroyed a month ago.
[Read More]
Summary of Repression (February 22nd demo)
Summary of arrests and trials since the demo in Nantes, February 22nd, according to information found by the anti-repression committee (CARILA)
[Read More]
As agreed, the refugees occupying the food distribution center had breakfast together this morning. They formed two groups, those who will continue to eat and those who are fasting. Those fasting had slightly larger portions. They sat in the middle of the courtyard. Yesterday, they made a list of 53 people willing to get involved. By late morning, there were more than thirty of them waiting for those who had tried to cross that night to join them – something they will no longer be able to do during the fast. This afternoon, we should know more precisely how many will participate in the hunger strike. [Read More]
After Natasha Bouchart, Senator-Mayor of Calais, presented her new anti-squatting law in the senate last week, the illegal evictions continue in Calais.
A new house was opened in Calais on the weekend of May 31st to 1st June. After a week of going unnoticed (to avoid possible eviction without a trial in the first 48 hour), the occupation was made public on Sunday, June 8 (despite some confusing information announcing it as “the next opening” published on the website of La Voix du Nord on Saturday, June 7th ), and the first contact was made with passersby, neighbors and the bar newsagent opposite. Some of them considered the occupation of this house, which has been empty for three years, totally legitimate. Another house on the street about fifty yards away is already squatted. [Read More]
On Friday, the migrants occupying the food distribution center brought a list of demands that they had agreed upon to the prefect and the media. At first, the prefect maintained that the 48 hour period in which they were to vacate the premises had expired and refused to enter a dialogue. However, seeing that they were determined to stay, he set up a meeting for today [Saturday] with the departmental Director of Social Cohesion, who was soon joined by the sub-prefect. They proposed a second meeting to the refugees next Tuesday, on the condition that by then they move to another place and leave the food distribution center. It seems that a meeting is planned Monday morning at the Ministry of the Interior regarding the situation of the migrants in Calais; the meeting on Tuesday will likely depend on the decisions taken Monday. The proposal to continue the dialogue in another location was accompanied by a threat: if the migrants did not leave the food distribution center on their own over the weekend, they would be evicted by force, arrested and sent back to their countries of origin. Of course, this poses the question of where should they go. The authorities let slip the idea of moving to the old municipal camp site. The state now stands before the contradiction of demanding that people leave one place only to occupy another, without permission, somewhere which inevitably belongs to someone. The site of the old camp grounds belongs to the city of Calais. [Read More]
Tomorrow, the occupation of SALAM by the inhabitants of the three camps evicted yesterday will enter its fourth day. They arrived early Tuesday morning, in anticipation of the destruction of their homes, at the food distribution center, which is normally closed except for an evening meal (and lunch on the weekend). They were looking for a safer space to stay, protected from the wind, the rain and the police, but also for a place to take a stand, to demand access to basic services and political consideration from the government, locally and across Europe. [Read More]
