29/02/2016

MSF Confirms Use of Tear Gas Against Migrants at French 'Jungle' Camp




According to a spokesperson for Medecins Sans Frontieres, the French police are using tear gas against migrants living at the so-called Jungle camp in the French port city of Calais.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160229/1035536744/rear-gas-migrants-calais.html#ixzz41ZFuVZ2j



MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The French police are using tear gas against migrants living at the so-called Jungle camp in the French port city of Calais, a spokesperson for Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, told Sputnik on Monday.


“We can confirm that this morning dozens of policemen went onto the camp and they started to remove part of the camp called part 9. We know that this afternoon they launched tear gas in the camp and some violence occurred against migrants. There is violence there now, and they are using tear gas against migrants,” Samuel Hanryon said.


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Details in The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/29/french-authorities-begin-clearance-of-part-of-calais-jungle-camp?CMP=share_btn_tw


French authorities step up moves to dismantle part of Calais 'Jungle' camp


French authorities have begun what appears to be a concerted if gradual process to dismantle the sprawling refugee camp in Calais known as the “Jungle”.
Volunteers helping those inside the collection of makeshift structures and tents, which houses an estimated 3,500 people, said workers began taking down homes in the southern section of the camp from early on Monday morning, backed by police.
Videos on French media websites showed people in orange-jackets dismantling wooden structures by hand, with riot police in the background. The debris was loaded into a large container. About 20 shelters were reportedly pulled down.
A spokeswoman for the volunteer British group, Help Refugees, said the demolition work had continued gradually for much of the day, and that between 60 and 70 camp residents had lost their accommodation. 
The work took place without unrest, although one British activist was reportedly arrested.
Calais authorities have pledged to dismantle a significant part of the southern section of the encampment, although they say this will take place over weeks. The work was delayed by a legal appeal by migrant charities, rejected by a French court late last week
Of those who lost their homes on Monday, some had moved into space elsewhere in the camp, the Help Refugees spokeswoman said, while others had been seen carrying sleeping bags into Calais.
“We don’t really know yet what people will do, but it seems likely some will just be dispersed to other areas around Calais,” she said.

Clare Moseley, of British volunteer group Care4Calais, said prefecture officials arrived at the camp at 7am and gave residents an hour’s notice to leave or face arrest. “The police presence is massive,” she said. “They have the whole area cordoned off.” French media reported that about 40 vans of riot police were in position near the site.
Help Refugees said some of its volunteers had been blocked on Monday morning from entering the camp, home to refugees and migrants from countries including Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan and Egypt.
A spokeswoman said the demolition began in a section of the camp with a mostly Iranian population: “People were being told they had to leave, otherwise they would be arrested. A lot of people seemed quote confused.”
A spokesman for the Calais prefecture denied there was a vast new clearing operation under way. He said French officials from asylum agencies and other state agencies would continue to go from tent to tent to talk to talk to migrants about their options as they had done last week.
“There is a reinforced police presence today to allow those officials to enter and talk to people. But this is a gradual process which will take place over several days and weeks. There will be no bulldozers.”
Fabienne Buccio, the head of the Calais prefecture, said three-quarters of the homes in the southern part of the camp were now empty after officials encouraged residents to leave over recent days.
Police were needed, she said, in case what she described as “extremists” tried to stop migrants accepting offers of new accommodation or buses to centres elsewhere in France.
Migrant aid groups had feared the local French authorities could move swiftly after a court on Thursday gave the legal go-ahead to demolition.
French authorities said earlier this month they intended to bulldoze half of the main camp, warning between 800 and 1,000 migrants and refugees to leave a seven-hectare southern section of the site. Buccio previously told Le Monde she intended to reduce the size of the camp by about half.
Care4Calais is among the groups that have opposed the dismantlement plans in the French courts. A legal appeal against last Thursday’s ruling had been lodged last week, Moseley said, and was expected to be heard soon.
A Help Refugees spokeswoman said Monday’s work did appear to be the start of wider clearance: “That’s what it’s looking like. They did say it’s going to be slow and respectful, giving people options, and I suppose they have in a way. But at the same time they’re not giving people access to information. One person was seen being given their options as their shelter was being dismantled, so the respect they talked about last week isn’t really happening.”
While some residents have moved into shipping container shelters and a small number have left on state-provided coaches to centres elsewhere in France, many more than the official estimate of 800 to 1,000 people remained inside the main camp. A census carried out by two charities recorded 3,455 people living there, with one group telling the Guardian earlier this week that this included 445 children, of whom 305 were unaccompanied.
Welfare groups, including Save the Children, have warned that clearance efforts will leave residents with nowhere to go, among them an estimated 300 unaccompanied children. There are a few hundred places remaining in the container camp, but nowhere near enough to house all those potentially evicted.
While the dismantlement process was given the go-ahead last week, the court in Lille ruled that common spaces such as schools and places of worship could remain standing.

European March for Refugees' rights - Paris event



Photos de la Marche pour le droits des migrants, Paris, samedi 27 février 2016, avec le BAAM et D'Ici et D'Ailleurs 

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Informations envoyées de "la Jungle"



Témoignage d'une association travaillant à Calais :


En direct de la Jungle : 

Problème avec les portables : pas de batterie. On était à l'école du chemin des Dunes pour les charger mais l'électricité à été coupée.
L'accès de certaines parties de la Jungle est empêchée par les CRS. On a réussi à passer : il y a des CRS partout, ils sont armés et ils sont violents.
Ils poussent les migrants et les journalistes, jusqu'à les faire tomber.
Il y a des équipes de démantèlement qui défoncent les cabanes à coup de massue et de pieds de biche. Tout tombe par terre, complètement détruit.
(On leur a demandé si on pouvait les interviewer, certaines personnes sont venues nous voir pour nous dire qu'elles n'avaient pas le droit de nous parler.)
Pour protéger leurs abris, les migrants montent sur les toits.
Pourquoi d'un coup tout s'est accéléré alors que le gouvernement avait promis de ne pas utiliser la violence ?
Parce que les No Border ont empêché les maraudes qui allaient chercher les migrants "pacifiquement" pour les sortir de leurs abris. Mais il s'agit d'un prétexte, il y aurait eu une autre raison de toute façon et les CRS seraient venus.
Tout le monde est calme sauf les CRS, ils ont des lacrymos, la situation risque de se compliquer.
On filme avec la caméra donc on ne peut pas envoyer les images en direct. 

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Chaos à Calais suite à l'intervention brutale des CRS :
“UK bound refugees in Calais 'Jungle' now setting fire to their tents as riot police try to evacuate them.”
TWITTER.COM|BY PETER ALLEN

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Les forces de l'ordre françaises ont commencé la démolition de "camp" de Calais




Demolition happening now! // La démolition du bidonville a commencé !

IMG_0229Police are doing their shitty  job and destroying people’s houses in the south half of the Calais jungle. Around 55 police vans and 200 police are moving through the jungle with bulldozers and demolition workers. Some people are  on their roofs to resist the eviction. Police removed one person from his roof and have demolished his house.
One person who was filming the police was arrested without any reason then released. Police still managed to delete some of the footage.
The call-out for solidarity is more relevant than ever. Now is the time to show active solidarity with all the precarious residents of the Calais Jungle, forced into it by the violent border regime.
NO EVICTIONS! NO BORDERS!

https://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/2016/02/29/demolition-happening-now-la-demolition-du-bidonville-a-commence/

IMG_0242
Les flics ont commencé leur sale boulot et détruisent en ce moment les maisons des gen-t-es dans la moité sud de la Jungle de Calais. A peu près 55 cars de CRS et 200 flics avancent dans la Jungle avec les bulldozers et des ouvriers. Quelques personnes se tiennent sur leurs toits pour résister à l’expulsion.
Une personne qui était en train de filmer la police s’est faite arrêtée sans raison puis rapidement relâchée. Les flics auront quand même supprimé une partie des vidéos.
L’appel à solidarité est plus vrai que jamais. Il est temps maintenant de montrer une solidarité active avec les habitant-e-s précaires de la Jungle de Calais, habitant-e-s malgré eux puisque c’est la violence du régime des frontières qui les y a forcés.
NON AUX EXPULSIONS ! NON AUX FRONTIÈRES !

Calais Migrant Solidarity

Resisting the border regime since 2009 






28/02/2016

Mon reportage à Calais, dans les camps de la "Jungle"




Bénévoles français et britanniques au secours des réfugiés de Calais

Plusieurs fois démantelés par les forces de l'ordre, les camps de la "jungle de Calais" mobilisent de nouveau l'attention. Les réfugiés de la zone sud sont menacés d'expulsion par les autorités françaises.

Selon la préfecture "800 à 1000 migrants" vivent dans la "Jungle" de Calais. Selon les associations sur place, ils sont 2000. Pour tenter de faire face à l’absence d’organisations nationales et de soutien politique, des bénévoles de plusieurs pays d’Europe se mobilisent et apporte de l’aide aux migrants. C’est le cas des Britanniques de Care 4 Calais et de l’association parisienne D’Ici et d’Ailleurs, qui se sont rencontrés, sur place, récemement.

Ecoutez le reportage de Melissa Chemam en cliquant sur le lien ci-dessous:

"Nous nous sentons un devoir envers ces gens tant qu’ils sont coincés ici." (un bénévole de Care 4 Calais)





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Ecoutez l'intégralité de l'émission :


ALLEMAGNE EUROPE

Qu'est-ce qui se passe en Saxe ?

Cette région de l'est de l'Allemagne a été le théâtre de nouveaux incidents xénophobes. Un phénomène qui n'est pas nouveau mais qui prend une nouvelle dimension avec l'afflux record de migrants. Notre correspondante Melissa Chemam rentre de Calais, dans le nord de la France. Elle a rencontré des Français et des Anglais qui retroussent leurs manches pour venir en aide aux réfugiés.
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Merci à Konstanze!


27/02/2016

Marche européenne pour le droit des réfugié.e.s


RDV à Paris, Place de la République, de 12h à 16h





A l'occasion de la Marche européenne pour le droit des
réfugié.e.s, des évènements auront lieu partout en Europe le 27 Février 2016.

Le BAAM, soutenu par D'Ici & d'Ailleurs, vous convie au rassemblement qui se tiendra à Paris
de 12h à 16h sur la Place de la République.

Les conditions de voyage et d'accueil en Europe pour les réfugié.e.s restent aujourd'hui bien loin des espérances de chacun. La France, Terre d'Asile historique, en fait partie.

Nous souhaiterions que cet événement soit à la fois un moment de convivialité, d'échange et l'occasion de faire entendre nos voix, et nos pas.

MOBILISATION POUR ET AVEC LES MIGRANT.E.S!
MARCHONS POUR FAIRE AVANCER LES CHOSES!

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On the occasion of the 2016 European March for Refugees' Rights, actions will take place everywhere in Europe on Saturday 27th February. You are invited to the Paris Event which will take place from noon to 4pm at Place de la République.

The events of the latest years have shown that travel and living conditions of migrants nowadays in Europe are far from being safe. European national states are not able to find reliable solutions, as is clearly testified by the millions of deaths at sea and on terrestrial routes towards Europe. 

There is still a long way to go, and France (which has historically been a land of asylum) needs to step up.
We hope this action will be a moment of friendly exchange, and the occasion to speak up.

A DAY OF ACTION CALLING FOR SAFE PASSAGE OF REFUGEES!
THE EUROPE ON THE MOVE IS THE EUROPE OF REFUGEES AND OF EUROPEAN CITIZENS HELPING THEM!

27 FEBRUARY 2016: EUROPE UNITES FOR REFUGEES

On the 27th of February, European citizens will come together for human rights, for refugees rights. For the creation of #SafePassage, to demand all european governments to take actions NOW: 
- safe passage from war-torn lands to safe havens
- safe passage from the arrival points in Europe to the destination countries!
- no more bracelets! 
- no more confiscations!
- no more borders closed!

These people are running away from death. We cannot allow them to die in front of our eyes! We cannot allow them to be held in inhumane camps when they came looking for freedom and safety! We cannot watch our Europe fall apart! We cannot fail as human beings! 

On the 27th of February we come together to make one clear statement all across Europe: #SAFEPASSAGE. You can organize demonstrations, gatherings, manifestations or any other means of gathering people in your country, your city, to voice this message loud and clear!

Massive Attack in Paris, Friday Feb. 26th/27th, 2016



Because after such a show, pictures are more suitable than words... at this hour at least.
What a special, magical and unexpectedly surprising evening.
Massive Attack at their best, in Paris, Le Zenith.


First act, of course, Young Fathers:





MA Opening: 'United Snakes'






'Risingson'






Messages and more messages





Enchanting 'Future Proof'








Martina Topley-Bird somewhere sings 'Teardrop'




'Angel' with Horace








'Inertia Creeps'









While singing with Martina a wonderful version of new single 'Take It There':






Young Fathers are back for 'Voodoo In My Blood' and 'He Needs Me':







Amazing ending with Deborah Miller joining for 'Unfinish Sympathy' then Horace back for 'Splitting The Atom'





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And, for the final notes, Giles Duley's powerful pictures from refugees in Lesbos, Greece, taken for the UNHCR, U.N. Refugee Council: