They came at 7AM and gave people one hour to leave. 50 plus vanloads of CRS riot cops. 20 odd demolition workers with crowbars. Some bulldozers. One water cannon. To demolish the dwellings of 100-200 people, in one corner of the jungle. People fought with stones against uncountable rounds of teargas. Fires blazed in parts of the eviction zone. The first one apparently ignited by a tear gas grenade, others by residents fighting back.
The demolition workers left around 5PM, they are expected back tomorrow. The authorities will be hoping that this display of force will persuade more people to flee and leave the area empty.
Also today, Calais Migrant Solidarity in a blogpost named two companies actively involved in the eviction. It said:
“Today, the police, who we already know are border guard dogs, were working hard to tear down people living in the Jungle. They were not alone and what they want to achieve would have been possible without the collaboration of a so called “humanitarian” organization and the demolition company.”
These are: NGO Groupe SOS Solidarites and demolition company Baudelet Environnement
Below is a chronology of the day’s events from humanitarian volunteer perspective, taken polyvalence (fakebook page):
Live from the Jungle <updated regularly – when possible>
1 pm :
Problem with cell phones : no battery. We were inside the « Chemin des Dunes » school to charge them but the electricity has been shut down.
The access to certain parts of the Jungle is cut by the CRS (riot police squad). We managed to go through : the CRS are everywhere, they’re armed and violent. They push migrants and journalists, until they fall to the ground.
There are dismantling teams who are destroying the shacks with bludgeons and crowbars. Everything falls to the ground in pieces. (We asked if we could interview them, some people came to us to say they weren’t allowed to speak to us.)
In order to protect their shelters, the migrants climb up the roofs.
The government promised they wouldn’t use violence, so why has everything escalated so fast ?
Because the No Borders prevented the people who were going to take the migrants out of their shelters « pacifically ». But this is no more than an excuse, there would’ve been another reason to do so anyway and the CRS would’ve come.
Everyone is calm except the squad officers, they have tear-gas, the situation could get complicated.
We’re filming with a camera, so we can’t send out live images.
Share, the images will come soon.
3 pm :
No more battery in the cell phones so no images for now.
The CRS are throwing out tear-gas.
There are children.
People are yelling « peace peace peace », « we are family ».
A couple of people are throwing rocks, but the others are asking them to stop.
People are peaceful.
3.45 pm :
Ranges of riot officers with shields and riot trucks, also with shields. Behind them, bulldozers are picking up bits and pieces of shelters that have been broken down by the dismantlers (wearing orange in the pictures). On the other side of the Jungle, everything is in order, the hairdresser, the restaurants. And inside the south area, everything is being gradually destructed. Migrants are waiting: they have no idea where they’re supposed to go.
4.15 pm :
Riot squad charges.
4.20 pm :
Riot squad charges, shoot tear-gas and flashballs.
4.50 pm :
Massive charge, 400 riot officers, at least twice as much as the migrants.
We managed to hide inside a shack and cover our faces with anti tear-gaz soap.
Migrants throw sheds across the path to stop the CRS from coming through.
The situation is more and more tense.
New charge.
5 pm :
The camp is on fire : migrants are setting fire to the destroyed cabins to slow the riot squad down. There are gas bottles inside the sheds. There are huge explosions.
People are screaming : « Human Rights, fucking France. »
5.40 pm :
There are children, not many. The small ones are frightened, they’re staying close to the adults. The teenagers are going towards the officers but the adults keep them back.
There have been CRS charges, gun shot tear-gas that explode on the migrants, sheds on fire.
The pressure lessens. The night will soon fall, everybody is staying on their guards.
6.30 pm :
The south area is calm again. The dismantlement was done by hand, the bulldozers preventively stayed behind the CRS but the dismantlement teams are the ones who destroyed the shacks with bludgeons, crowbars, disk cutters etc., not bulldozers.
The riot squad has charged several times this afternoon. There have been tear-gas shots on one side, and rock throwing on the other.
Migrants have set fires to the sheds that had already been destroyed and/or have shoved them on the paths to slow down the riot squad.
The people who no longer have a shelter have no accommodation solution.
7 pm :
A group of migrants run towards the highway.
Another CRS charge.
On us and on groups who are doing nothing, standing still.
We are between stone throwing and tear-gas shots.
The destruction of the sheds represent 100 homeless people.
45 have been sent to the CAO (« orientation and welcome centers »)
We don’t know if the others are going to the containers and/or the blue tents (State tents).
The first shed was burnt down by the CRS’s shots. Migrants have burned the others. Only after.
A 13 year old child has been arrested this morning by the riot squad for throwing a stone.
Updates as soon as we can.
7.20 pm :
We’ve been targeted with tear-gas pistols.
Riot officers are shooting at point-blank range.
Filming is impossible.
We got out with our hands up pretending to be press.
A DWB (« Doctors Without Borders ») volunteer spoke to the CRS this morning and reported them saying they didn’t really know what they should do.
So tonight they’re shooting tear-gas where people are, and where people are there are gas bottles and risks of them exploding.
Right now we are controlled by the riot officers.
http://rabble.org.uk/calais-jungle-eviction-day-1-update-on-collaborators/