Above all we need PEOPLE, we have a rota that has worked very well during the winter, we were never low in numbers, but now many activists who were here for a long time have left, and for the next month or so we really need more people, who can turn up at short notice, as well as people who can put their name on the rota!

The police spend the day and the night chasing people in the streets, in the parks, or disturbing them when they are trying to sleep - in one night the police went 6 times at the place of food distribution, where many people sleep having nowhere else to go.
Often people are stopped and arrested when they go to have their food - in breach of an agreement the police have with the associations who distribute the meals, they should not disturb the people who go to eat, 20 minutes before the food distribution, and 20 minutes after, but they do it all the time. Many people who have no papers have stopped going to the food distributions for fear of being arrested.

Repeated, arbitrary arrests of migrants are happening continuosly.
Sometimes people are released immediatley, and have to walk back 1 hour from the police station, sometimes to be arrested again, or they are kept for 12 up to hours in a filthy overcrowded cell. Or, if they are more unlucky, they are sent to the deportation centre at Coquelles, that is now full. Often they check their fingerprints on Eurodac, the Euro database where all fingerprints are stored, then they deport them to the first EU country where they had their fingerprints taken, as in the Dublin2 agreements, but recently they have also deported 4 Sudanese back to Sudan, one from Calais. Several detainees have been on hunger strike, but I think it is over, after I spoke to some of the men inside, also many detainees have been deported to various Dublin2 countries. We have had regular noise demos outside the deportation centre for some time, the last was Sunday. We also visit and support the people inside.

The last big migrant squat in Calais, Palestine House, has been served with eviction papers and could be closed any moment. Many Sudanese have moved there, following the eviction of the 'Africa House' at the university cabins. There are also people from Chad and other African countries, Palestinians and Afghans, all under the same roof of a very derelict building. There are several asylum seekers and a few minors, the youngest is 15. The atmosphere in Palestine House is very friendly at the moment, all the people getting on fine but the house can be evicted any moment, and all the people will be in the street! Like the Eritreans and Ethiopians, who are already out and about, as the police has not let them resettle anywhere. The squat of the Eritreans, Paradise House, was closed by the police after the tragic death of Zenebe, a very nice, gentle and quiet man with a beautiful smile, who was killed in the squat and is very sadly missed. His death is under investigation.

WE ARE VERY LOW IN NUMBERS AND COULD DO WITH MORE PEOPLE- it is difficult to monitor the situation in few people, we have a garage full of materials such as blankets and tarpaulin for quick distribution, if the police destroy the shelters or confiscate the blankets we can replace them immediately, but we need more materials, and we need more HANDS!

IN PARTICULAR WE NEED TENTS BECAUSE WE HAVE RUN OUT, TARPAULIN and blankets we can find locally but always need SLEEPING BAGS, warm clothes, it is spring but is very cold for this season, and it rains a lot, MEN'S SHOES .

We also need CASH, to keep our activities running, and also to get things like sugar and coffe for the people who can still make fires, and we need tobacco to bring to the people detained in the deportation centre.

We need BICYCLES, we have a new temporary space but it is a bit far from city centre.

The number to call if you are coming is 0033 645465986 (0645465986 if you are calling from France): it is very important to call before as at the moment there is no clear place for sleeping.

More information on our blog.