Calais update

In the meantime people are left with minimal access to food, shelter, medicine or any basic support.

This is dignified Besson?

Wednesday 23 September
08.46: 1 No Borders activist arrested last night for driving with 3 Iranians in a car. Still in custody. Will send more info, only sketchy details from the police so far.

08.25: 19 people left dockside, the ‘Palestinian’ squat in the centre of Calais – everyone else has fled. We have been finding alternative acommodation for people… new arrivals all the time. Looked after three 13 year old Afghans yesterday left with nothing – they are safe now. The Pashtun ‘jungle’ is just a pile of rubbish and dirt now.

08.02: 11 arrests this morning, 2 Vietnamese and 9 Eritreans. Last night many Eritreans fled from their house (squat). The CRS just came, they cleared the area but several people managed to get away.

Callout for demonstrations at UK Border Agency offices today:

What has happened in Calais is not a matter ‘for the French’, it’s part of a coordinated European approach to curbing migration. The responsibility for the situation facing migrants in Calais rests partly with the UK Border Agency, as well as the wider UK government, whose wars many people in Calais are trying to escape. For example, many Afghans in Calais talk of the UK as “my enemy’s enemy”, ie against the Taliban. But it’s all fucked up. So they come to seek shelter in the UK.
We can’t all go to Calais, although those that can are needed. But many of us have UK Border Agency offices and staff near us. Tomorrow the Calais ‘jungle’ clearances seem set to begin.

As Pashtuns in the main Afghan jungle prepare to resist the eviction, and some start hunger strikes, we call for direct actions and demonstrations at UK Border Agency offices throughout these islands.

UK Border Agency, Lunar House, 40 Wellesley Road, Croydon, Surrey CR9 2BY

Asylum Screening Unit – Liverpool 1st Floor, Reliance House, 20 Water Street, Liverpool, L2 8XU

Public Enquiry Offices
Solihull – Dominion Court, 41 Station Road, Solihull, Birmingham B91 3RT
Sheffield – Vulcan House, Riverside entrance, 6 Millsands, Sheffield S3 8NU
Liverpool – Reliance House, 20 Water Street, Liverpool L2 8XU
Glasgow – Festival Court, 200 Brand Street, Govan, Glasgow G51 1DH
Belfast – 1 Drumkeen Complex, Upper Galwally, Belfast BT8 6TB
Cardiff – General buildings, Ground floor, 31-33 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales CF24 0AB

All the above Public Enquiry Offices are also biometric enrolment centres, plus
Derby – 2nd Floor, Stuart House, Green Lane, DE1 1RS
Brighton – First Floor (North Suite), 42 Frederick Place, Brighton, BN1 4EA

UKBA Customer Service Units
North West – 0161 261 1117
North East, Yorkshire and the Humber – 0114 207 2966
Midlands and East of England – 01733 847844
Wales and South West – 02920 924657
London and South East – 020 8760 8765 or 020 8760 2926

And to get through to Dover…
“Border Force Customer Service Unit – If you wish to complain about the treatment you have received at any of the United Kingdom’s sea, air or rail ports, or about immigration controls at a United Kingdom port, you should contact the Border Force Customer Service Unit, phone: 01304 664511″

Report an illegal immigrant! 0800 59 5000 (HM Revenue & Customs operate this one) It’s free, don’t call from a phone box and leave the receiver hanging

FROM BBC NEWS WEBSITE:
UK turns down ‘jungle migrants’
Some 1,500 migrants live in very poor conditions outside Calais

The UK Border Agency has rejected calls for Britain to accept some migrants from the illegal camp in Calais known as “the jungle”.

High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres had said the government should consider granting entry to those who already have large families in the UK.

He spoke after French officials said the camp would be shut down imminently.

But the UK Border Agency said genuine asylum seekers should make their claim in the country where they enter Europe.

An agency spokesman said: “People seeking asylum should do so in the first safe country they come to, those who are not in need of protection will be expected to return home.

“The decision to close illegal encampments in and around Calais is a matter for the French government and we will continue to cooperate with them on tackling illegal immigration.”

Read more at  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8262283.stm

 http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/callout-to-demonstrate-at-uk-border-agency-offices/