Calais Demo: “Solidarity!" that one powerful word
transmitter | 10.11.2005 22:54 | Migration
Here is a translation of an article from the regional newspaper on the noborder demo last Saturday, 6 November, in Calais, on the other side of the channel.
La Voix du Nord
Sunday 6/11/05
About 350 people went out on the streets of Calais. The demonstration started very badly. At the hour of the meeting in front of the bungalow (for charitable food distribution) yesterday and at the start of the afternoon, an accident happened involving a refugee.
It unfolded right in front of the eyes of those hundreds assembled. The tension mounted, some refugees got angry accusing the Police. They were very quickly calmed by the local activists who didn’t want for that day any kind of provocation.
Only one slogan “solidarity !” that one powerful word shouted into the desert. With every colour and in every language it was shouted from the rue Mollien to the Theatre, then from the Theatre to the Parc Richelieu. In the first line of the demo refugees and militants marched hand in hand. A man wore a white teeshirt covered in blood.
The forces of order who surrounded the demo were discrete; the result of two intense weeks of negotiations with the Police. Further from the march a group seemed more active. The slogans were more varied; they came from the CSP 59 sans papiers collective from Lille, which had arrived by bus from there. “We are not thieves, we are not murderers, we just want papers so we can work “... Like them, the refugees of Calais just want papers so they can live at last in peace. A peace which for the moment is refused.
At supper time later in front of Parc Richelieu, Zana, a young Iraqi took the microphone. In quick English he says that he had left his parents and fiancée to escape death, in one week he had been arrested and taken to the commisariat 20 times “why !? why !? why !?” he said.
For a long time, the dialogue has been broken between the volunteers of the CSUR collective and the Mayor of Calais Jacky Henin. The same one who treated them like we think that the axe has, definitely been buried. Many events have happened these last few week. The rape of two inhabitants of Oye Plages and the silent demonstration that was organised afterwards. Then the visit of Sarkozy and waves of repression. "The point of agreement is Sarkozy," explains Bishop Jean Pierre Boutille, "In relation to him we shared the same opinion. The mayor has agreed that the repression and the measures taken have lead to nothing."
For two hours on Thursday activists of CSUR, the activists and the Mayor calmly exchanged their points of view and there differences. “We repeated a fact” says Jean Pierre Boutoille "that the ball is in the court of the politicians, not in ours". When at last will they take the time to get to the bottom of the problem, at the International level ? On that level the recent events in the Spanish enclaves of Morrocco could contribute to pricking their consciences. As we wait for an international solution (we can always dream).
We still agitate for the opening of a welcoming centre limited in capacity and in time.
Sunday 6/11/05
About 350 people went out on the streets of Calais. The demonstration started very badly. At the hour of the meeting in front of the bungalow (for charitable food distribution) yesterday and at the start of the afternoon, an accident happened involving a refugee.
It unfolded right in front of the eyes of those hundreds assembled. The tension mounted, some refugees got angry accusing the Police. They were very quickly calmed by the local activists who didn’t want for that day any kind of provocation.
Only one slogan “solidarity !” that one powerful word shouted into the desert. With every colour and in every language it was shouted from the rue Mollien to the Theatre, then from the Theatre to the Parc Richelieu. In the first line of the demo refugees and militants marched hand in hand. A man wore a white teeshirt covered in blood.
The forces of order who surrounded the demo were discrete; the result of two intense weeks of negotiations with the Police. Further from the march a group seemed more active. The slogans were more varied; they came from the CSP 59 sans papiers collective from Lille, which had arrived by bus from there. “We are not thieves, we are not murderers, we just want papers so we can work “... Like them, the refugees of Calais just want papers so they can live at last in peace. A peace which for the moment is refused.
At supper time later in front of Parc Richelieu, Zana, a young Iraqi took the microphone. In quick English he says that he had left his parents and fiancée to escape death, in one week he had been arrested and taken to the commisariat 20 times “why !? why !? why !?” he said.
For a long time, the dialogue has been broken between the volunteers of the CSUR collective and the Mayor of Calais Jacky Henin. The same one who treated them like we think that the axe has, definitely been buried. Many events have happened these last few week. The rape of two inhabitants of Oye Plages and the silent demonstration that was organised afterwards. Then the visit of Sarkozy and waves of repression. "The point of agreement is Sarkozy," explains Bishop Jean Pierre Boutille, "In relation to him we shared the same opinion. The mayor has agreed that the repression and the measures taken have lead to nothing."
For two hours on Thursday activists of CSUR, the activists and the Mayor calmly exchanged their points of view and there differences. “We repeated a fact” says Jean Pierre Boutoille "that the ball is in the court of the politicians, not in ours". When at last will they take the time to get to the bottom of the problem, at the International level ? On that level the recent events in the Spanish enclaves of Morrocco could contribute to pricking their consciences. As we wait for an international solution (we can always dream).
We still agitate for the opening of a welcoming centre limited in capacity and in time.
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