Migrant protesters were due in a French court on Monday after occupying a cross-Channel ferry, as charities warned thousands could be affected by plans to evict half of Calais’ “Jungle” refugee camp.
Migrant protesters were due in a French court on Monday after occupying a cross-Channel ferry, as charities warned thousands could be affected by plans to evict half of Calais’ “Jungle” refugee camp.
A court in Boulogne-sur-Mer was to deliver a verdict in the case of two activists and six migrants who took part in January’s protest in the northern port city of Calais, urging Britain to allow asylum-seekers in.
Towards the end of the protest, some 150 people broke through a barrier around the port and about a third managed to board the “Spirit of Britain” ferry. Several hours later, the police removed them, arresting 24 migr-ants and 11 members of the No Borders activist group.
The case comes a day before a deadline of 1900 GMT on Tuesday set by local authorities for people in the southern half of the Jungle camp to leave.
The local government says the demolition will affect between 800 and 1,000 residents of the grim camp, which stands on a former toxic waste dump on the outskirts of Calais.
It estimates there are currently some 3,700 people living there, all of whom are hoping to sneak aboard lorries heading for Britain.
But according to charities working in the camp, who say they have done a census, there are around 3,450 people living in the southern part — including 300 unaccompanied children.
The demolition “risks displacing migrants to other camps in the region, which is only moving the problem somewhere else,” said Vincent De Coninck, a volunteer with Caritas.
Conditions in other camps along the northern French coast are even more dire than those in the Jungle.
Several charities are challenging the eviction order, and a judge is due to visit the Jungle on Tuesday before giving a verdict later in the day.
Local government head Fabienne Buccio said on Sunday that “everything will be done” to avoid the use of force in clearing the southern half of the camp.
