UPDATE: The squat was evicted this afternoon by 12 vans of riot police, a few hours after being announced in the morning. See report on the eviction here. 8 people have been arrested. The Calais authorities clearly intend to enforce their “zero tolerance” clampdown on migrant and other autonomous spaces in the town centre, and with hundreds of CRS now stationed in Calais they have the force to do so.
From Calais Migrant Solidarity. 27 March 2016. (NB: This action began immediately after the end of the Hunger Strike of Iranian refugees in the Jungle, see below for the final statement of the hunger strikers.)
A Roof for Everyone!
**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. This Sunday, 27th March 2016 we publicly occupy the old Foyer (homeless shelter) « Le moulin blanc » on 20 rue Eustache de Saint Pierre/ 7 rue des prêtres in Calais. We would like to invite you to come and support this occupation. Your presence would be strongly appreciated, even recommended to ensure the success of this action. You are welcome to come drink a cup of tea with us.**
Housing is a right, not a privilege. Everyone deserves a warm, dry, safe and secure places to live regardless of age, race, sexuality, gender, class or immigration status.
Squatting is a logical action in Calais, a city where there are many thousands of homeless people and a large quantity of empty homes. People with and without papers have spent winters on the streets since the closure of Sangatte, and still the situation in Calais gets worse.
Calais is a segregated city. The government closed all migrant squats during 2015 and banished the people living in them in to a ghetto kilometers outside the city center.
Now even the ghetto outside town is under attack. Over the past month we have witnessed the destruction of the southern half of the “jungle”, which was home to over 2,000 people in Calais. Some of these people have left Calais, many of them have moved to the overpopulated north (half of the “jungle”), with increased fire risks and tensions between communities living in close proximity. Some are now living in the streets around Calais. And, therefore, we support the creation of a space for those who are homeless in Calais, to rest and recuperate.
The police makes it very clear to anyone who doesn’t look European that the place they belong to is the “jungle”. People who dare to go back to the city risk very heavily physical fascist attacks. People get beaten up or disappear. On the 12.3.2016 a group of 130 people blocked three bridges that lead to the city center from the “jungle”, stopping migrants from entering the city.
The message is clear: You are not welcome!
We are very concerned about both these facts: the systematic destruction of shelter and the segregation of the city, that reminds us on dark history. Therefore the creation of living spaces in the city, for people who are forced to live on the street, is maybe by law, illegal, but in light of the situation, more then legitimate.
The building that was chosen for that was a homeless shelter which has been left empty for many years! By transforming this space into what it was originally intended for, we are both highlighting the governments moral failure to provide adequate accommodation for the homeless people in Calais and showing that when we as homeless people and supporters work together, we can create something truly inspirational.
The law on accommodation :
* ARTICLES L 345-2-2 345-2-3 AND CODE OF SOCIAL ACTION AND FAMILIES *
“Every homeless person in distress, with medical, psychological and social problems, at any time, must be given access to an emergency shelter
Please also sign and spread the petition amongst your networks in support of the occupation:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/support-squatters-rights-in-calais
The Collective «Salut ô toit »
Email : un_toit@riseup.net
New Occupation in Calais!
For years, the government and the prefecture of Calais have been destroying living places. For years, people in Calais have been assaulted by police and fascists and have had their belongings destroyed . For years, people are forced to live in fear and insecurity because they are foreigners.
The jungle is a ghetto, created by the government following the evictions of squats and other jungles. People live there together in an autonomous way, in diversity and community, in sometimes filthy conditions, where violence and racism are always present. It would be easy to use the rhetoric of pity and victimisation that some associations like, just as easy as it would be to condemn the jungle for being dysfunctional. For better or worse, the jungle is a space where people can live , and now they have to fight for this space. Even if the jungle is precarious, it is still a refuge for many. The fight for the space is not just practical, it is also symbolic. To make sure that people considered “undesirable” are not just treated as a problem to be hidden in containers.
Today, after the eviction of the south part of the jungle, some have left, some are on the street and many have been forced into a smaller and smaller space in the north of the jungle. At the same time, in Calais, many houses remain uninhabited, empty. For us, our legitimacy to occupy these spaces goes without saying. We’ve chosen a place with a particularly powerful symbolism : an old foyer for homeless people. So we’ve decided to occupy this place in Calais and resist the eviction as long as possible. It is not acceptable for us that in a city which has the largest homeless population in France, where thousands are forced to live outside, that institutions designed to combat this have been abandoned and left to rot. We condemn with this action the systematic refusal of the state to welcome people, refugees or not, with dignity.
On top of being declared by the authorities as a “zero no borders zone” and a “zero-foreigners zone”, Calais is now also classified as a “zéro-squat” city. There are more and more police to control the Calasien segregation and there are fascists who attack and threaten the people who try to go back to town. We cannot let the government impose segregationist laws without a fight. We cannot let the idea of a “zéro-squat” city be spread to the rest of France and the rest of the world.
Just as the ZAD of Notre Dames des Landes cannot only be reduced to a struggle against an airport, but must be understood as a struggle for autonomy, access to land and more widely against our patriarchal legacy and the capitalist system ; the fight for the freedom of movement in Calais is also part of a wider struggle. The fight must be waged against the imperialism and racism of Europe, and the war it leads against the poor and foreigners ; against its borders, its guard dogs and its governments ; for the freedom of movement and settlement.
The destruction of the jungle and autonomous ways of life is yet another way of impeding us to choose our way of life, to build something together outside of state control, regardless of whether we have papers or not. This action is an opportunity for struggles to come together to fight against the government and its authoritarian and repressive policies. We assert by this action our support to the ZAD of Notre Dame des Landes and the reasons that motivate us to take this action. By working together with the people who struggle for the freedom of movement and settlement, we can create something innovative, new and inspirational.
Echoing other similar struggles, we also want to assert the convergence of our opinions : to occupy a physical and symbolic space is also to struggle against the domination and the exploitation of territories by the State. With the implementation of the state of emergency, more and more people are suffering the consequences of more and more repressive policies, which criminalise any attempt to organise. This is why its important to reinforce our solidarity.
Therefore we call for the organisation of actions now and in the following days in support of our initiative, and to spread the information among your networks.
Le collectif «Salut ô toit »
(Image from Calais solidarity action in Switzerland.)
Hunger strike finished – struggle continues
Statement from the hunger strikers in ‘The Jungle’ in Calais [25 March 2016]
We would like to extend our deep condolences to the people of Brussels and all the victims of Tuesday’s attacks.
It is from this same violence and terror that so many of the people of The Jungle are running. We must stand together, united as humanity, against violence in all its forms.
In the many months that we have been in The Jungle we have endured living in squalid and filthy conditions. We have all been subject to routine and systematic racist violence at the hands of nationalists, fascists and the French police. This experience of violence is common to all in The Jungle and has occurred on an almost daily basis. For many, including very young and unaccompanied refugees, this violence simply became the norm.
Despite the terrible conditions which we found ourselves living in, no practical and humane alternative was offered. The dispersal of refugees across France into frequently uninhabitable centres and the complex, protracted asylum application process left many afraid, desperate and returning to The Jungle.
On 29 February, the French State began their eviction of the southern section of The Jungle. The scale of violence was indescribable. We Iranians were in the first section to be cleared. In breach of promises and court orders the authorities smashed our shelters, beat us, choked us with tear gas and shot us with rubber bullets. We had been given no warning and no interpreters to help understand the process. We had no time to pack our few belongings, we lost everything but the clothes on our backs. It became clear to us that the problems of refugees in France, particularly in the Jungle in Calais, were being censored and all of us were being presented as terrorists and troublemakers.
Our decision to go on hunger strike and sew our lips together as a protest at the inhumane treatment of refugees and asylum seekers was well considered. Our decision was not based on anger but taken with a clear aim.
From the first day we have been demanding:
- A fundamental change in the political and social policy governing the treatment of refugees in France.
- An end to the violent and illegal destruction of the residences in The Jungle with no proper, humane and adequate alternatives offered for housing and protecting the refugees.
- An end to police and fascist violence.
Furthermore, to fully convey the severity of the problems of those living in The Jungle we requested an immediate visit from a representative of the United Nations to assess the situation.
We have also asked for representatives from the British Home Office and the French Government to be based in The Jungle in order to identify, separate and expedite the cases of those individuals with a case for family reunification or asylum in the United Kingdom. We believe this is an issue of shared French-British responsibility.
After sixteen days on hunger strike a representative of the government entered negotiations with us in order to resolve the problems of the refugees in the Jungle. We set out each of the problems faced by the refugees. Over five meetings we received nothing but the same standard responses with no definitive plan put forward to change or reconsider public policy towards the treatment of refugees.
The proposals put forward by The State contained only those practical steps that should have been taken a long time ago to ensure humane conditions for refugees in The Jungle. Their plans for the Northern section should have been in place from the beginning throughout the whole camp. It is through the continual neglect of The State that we have all found ourselves in this current situation.
We consider it a victory that the French government has been forced to the abandon the destruction of the northern section of the camp and instead to start the process of improving the living conditions there, including security, medical services, legal services, assistance for vulnerable groups including minors, clean water and a paved road allowing access for emergency services to enter the camp.
We have also met with representatives from the UNHCR and the Defenseur des Droits who have assured us that they will issue reports on the conditions of The Jungle. We accept their assurances that they will take appropriate action to secure all our human rights.
Our aim was to bring awareness to the problems of asylum seekers in The Jungle. We wanted to tell the world what is happening here and we have succeeded. We have received messages of solidarity from all across the world for which we are very grateful. We want to thank those who supported us, in particular those in France and the UK who have stood by us throughout our struggle. We would also like to extend our gratitude to the Mayor of Dunkirk for creating a safe and humane environment for the refugees in his area.
We have decided to end our hunger strike not as a direct response to the negotiations with the French State but out of respect for those supporting us, who have a genuine concern for our welfare, and as a gesture of faith that the State abide by their limited assurances to protect and improve the conditions of those in the North of The Jungle.
There is clearly still much work to be done and this is not the end of the struggle for the human rights of refugees and asylum seekers across Europe. We invite you all to stand with us, united in humanity.