France Plans More Shelters for Migrants in Calais

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/world/europe/migrants-calais-france.html

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PARIS (AP) — France’s interior minister announced plans on Monday to open two centers to shelter migrants who return to the northern port city of Calais, determined to get to Britain despite the closing of a vast makeshift camp in Calais last fall.

Interior Minister Gérard Collomb, who estimated the number of migrants who have returned to Calais at about 400, said that so far this year, more than 30,000 attempts had been made to sneak into the ferry port or the Eurotunnel train station, or to jump onto trucks heading to Britain.

Mr. Collomb also ordered a report on accusations of police mistreatment of migrants in France. Last week, Human Rights Watch said the police had been “routinely” using pepper spray on refugees, including when they were sleeping.

Calais was the site of a sprawling, slum-like camp for as many as up to 7,000 refugees and asylum-seekers before the French government closed the camp in October. Most of the camp’s inhabitants were taken by bus to centers around France.

“We don’t want to restart the bad experiences of the past that all ended in the same way,” Mr. Collomb said.

A court ruled last month that hundreds of migrants still making their way to Calais should have access to drinking water, showers and toilets. The city of Calais and the interior minister appealed the ruling.

The Council of State, France’s highest administrative body, rejected the appeal on Monday, ruling that the authorities in Calais were exposing migrants to “inhuman or degrading treatment” that amounts to a “grave and manifestly illegal attack on a fundamental freedom.” The council upheld a court order that the authorities must help migrants who wish to move to shelters.

In response, Mr. Collomb said two centers would be created to shelter migrants and speed up assessments of their circumstances — including whether they should be expelled from France. He also said that in keeping with the court order, officials would set up mobile sites so migrants can have access to water and toilets.

Mr. Collomb said at a news conference that there were 350 to 400 migrants in the area, two-thirds of them Eritreans and Ethiopians, and the rest Afghans and Pakistanis. Aid groups have put the figure at as many as 700.

The number is small compared with the tens of thousands of migrants who arrive in Italy, the European landing spot for many of those who make their way to Calais. But for some in the French city, it is a sign that more migrants will arrive if not dissuaded.

Mr. Collomb denied the report by Human Rights Watch that police officers in Calais were pepper-spraying migrants, in part by saying that French security forces use only tear gas — not pepper spray.

He insisted, however, that such accusations are taken seriously, saying that 23 investigations of alleged police abuse have been opened. He said witnesses should come forward, because abuse claims are often “anonymous, not dated and not localized.”