Quelle: taz
Lkw-Fahrer, Landwirte und Geschäftsleute demonstrieren in Frankreich für die Räumung des Flüchtlingslagers in Calais.
PARIS taz | In der Nähe der Hafenstädte Calais und Dunkerque haben am Montag Hunderte Lkw-Fahrer, Landwirte und Geschäftsleute mit ihren Fahrzeugen über Stunden die Autobahn blockiert. Mit dieser Demonstration fordern sie die Räumung der Flüchtlingslager in der nordfranzösischen Küstenregion am Ärmelkanal. Im Zentrum der Proteste steht das „Dschungel“ genannte Flüchtlingslager in Calais.
Gegen die Migranten und Flüchtlinge aus Afrika und dem Nahen Osten hätten sie grundsätzlich nichts, sagen die meisten von ihnen. Aber, dass sie nicht länger unter den Folgen dieses seit mehr als 15 Jahren ungelösten Problems leiden wollen. So beklagen sich Lkw-Fahrer, dass Schlepper in der Nacht gefährliche Hindernisse errichten. So sollen die Fahrer zum Anhalten gezwungen werden, damit Flüchtlinge Lkws auf dem Weg nach Großbritannien besteigen können. Gastwirte und Geschäftsleute schimpfen, die früher zahlreichen Touristen kämen nicht mehr nach Calais.
Die meisten haben es vor allem satt, dass man ihnen immer wieder unhaltbare Versprechungen macht. Gerade erst hatte Frankreichs Innenminister Bernard Cazeneuve bei einem Besuch in Calais angekündigt, demnächst werde auch der nördliche Teil des Zelt- und Hüttenlagers für Flüchtlinge und Migranten geräumt – wie zuvor schon der südliche Teil. Einen Termin nannte er jedoch nicht.
In Calais hält man das für bloße Augenwischerei: Die Bewohner des geräumten Camps leben heute größtenteils im nördlichen Teil. Es wird geschätzt, dass zwischen 7.000 und 10.000 Menschen dort leben. Und es werden immer mehr, denn am Ärmelkanal endet für viele die Reise ins vermeintliche Eldorado Großbritannien.
Der konservative Vorsitzende der französischen Region Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Xavier Bertrand, hatte am Vorabend der Demo bereits angeregt, Frankreich solle im Gefolge der Brexit-Abstimmung das einst vom damaligen Innenminister Nicolas Sarkozy mit Großbritannien unterzeichnete Abkommen aufkündigen, das Frankreich die Grenzkontrolle am Ärmelkanal aufgebürdet hat. Die Engländer sollten selbst schauen, wie sie dem Problem der illegalen Einreisen und der Schwarzarbeit begegnen können, sagte Bertrand.
Für die Migranten und Flüchtlinge, die um jeden Preis über den Ärmelkanal gelangen wollen, wäre es zumindest eine Erleichterung, wenn man sie nicht länger in Calais zurückhalten würde.
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siehe auch: The Guardian
Protesters close Calais over refugee crisis: ‚We are not racist but we see no solution‘
Hauliers, farmers and business owners lift blockade on Channel Tunnel and ferry terminal after French government says ‘Jungle’ camp will be dismantled
French demonstrators blocked access to the Channel Tunnel and the Calais ferry terminal on Monday, causing severe transport disruption, to protest at the government’s failure to close the refugee camp known as the Jungle.
People cheer and wave flares and French flags as a protesting trucker blocks the highway near Calais on Monday. Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP
Hauliers who said they had to run the gauntlet of increasingly daring and aggressive attempts by stowaways to get to Britain were joined by farmers, shopkeepers and business owners on the march, which closed the A16 motorway outside the Channel port.
A convoy of about 40 lorries and trucks was joined by 50 tractors and several hundred marchers who formed a human chain to converge on the access roads to the tunnel and ferry terminals.
The blockade came to an end on Monday night. A Eurotunnel spokesman said it was understood the protesters agreed to end the blockade following concessions from the government.
Representatives came away from a meeting with the state representative of the region, Fabienne Buccio, with a new commitment – but no date – that the camp would be completely dismantled “in a single step”.
Buccio also said a special fund to help businesses in need would be activated and more than 230 extra security staff brought in, bringing the total to over 2,000. However, the hauliers threatened to stage fresh protests and keep blocking the A16 if the migrant camp is not dismantled.
Eurotunnel said on Monday night that the protest had dispersed and traffic would be back to normal on Tuesday. A spokesman told the Press Association: “Eurotunnel services have been operating normally all day. Some freight traffic was held back but, due to a lot of discussion and forward planning before the protest, most had been diverted and came at the weekend or last week.”
France’s interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, pledged last week to dismantle the Calais camp, Europe’s biggest and most notorious open-air squat, which is now home to between 7,000 and 10,000 migrants and refugees. Many of them are desperate to reach Britain. The former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who hopes to stand again in 2017, called on the British to set up their own holding centre on the other side of the Channel.
But Eric Fiolet, a local haulier and one of the demonstration’s organisers, said during the protest that the time for talking was over. “It’s action we want, not promises that may or may not be kept. I don’t know of any other industry or any other workers that have to put up with being attacked the way we are every night. Our people risk being hurt or having their lorries, which are their livelihoods, destroyed.”
He added: “Pressure has been building up for three and a half years. We have exhausted all possibility of discussions and negotiations. Today our backs are against the wall.”
Over the Channel, the Road Haulage Association (RHA) said lorry drivers would stand their ground until action to dismantle the camp was taken and predicted the traffic chaos in France would have a knock on effect on traffic on Britain’s south coast; however, the Port of Calais said a diversion had been put in place and ferries were operating as normal.
“This will bring yet further misery to hauliers bound for mainland Europe and of course for the people and businesses of Kent,” RHA chief executive Richard Burnett said. However, he added: “There needs to be a clear plan that shows how the camp is going to be dismantled. Drivers have been attacked on a daily basis for months. And there has been insufficient resource to protect.”
On Monday, farmers, truck drivers and local residents spoke of their growing fear, frustration and anger at the failure of French, British and European politicians to solve Calais’ migrant problem. The term most often used was ras-le-bol; which literally means to have a bowl full, but translates as being fed up.
Local officials say tourists now snub the historic Channel town, with long and close links to Britain, because of its association with the human misery and violence of the camp.
But while Calaisiens spoke of being angry and fed up, many also had sympathy for the plight of the migrants and refugees in their midst, living in squalor in a shanty town of makeshift tents and plastic shelters.
“We are not racist and we are not Front National [the far-right party of Marine Le Pen]. We understand there is a humanitarian question here, that there are people living in misery, but we are living with incivility and a growing feeling of insecurity,” Jean-Pierre Clipet, of the FDSEA farmers’ union, said.
People smugglers are reported to be going to extreme lengths in Calais to get people to the UK, with reports of vehicles being torched, petrol bombs thrown and trees being felled to block roads before drivers are threatened with chainsaws and machetes.
Gangs are often paid thousands of pounds by vulnerable people to get them to Calais, from where some are smuggled to Britain.
Christophe Delacourt, 49, a maintenance technician with Eurotunnel, showed the Guardian photographs on his telephone of his car windscreen – smashed, he said, by angry migrants and refugees.
“I was driving to work at 5am last Tuesday when about 20 to 30 of them tried to get on a lorry. When it didn’t stop and they failed, they grabbed tree branches and started attacking my car. Of course, I was afraid.”
Delacourt said Eurotunnel had advised its employees to take smaller roads to work during the night.
Sebastien Fournier, 36, who joined the human-chain march, said his wife was now afraid to drive to the supermarket with their young child in the car.
“This isn’t normal. Every day it’s getting worse and worse. We don’t want confrontation with the migrants. We just want to go to work. And it’s sad because it’s turning the local population racist.”
Ludovic Demol, 45, said he was driving to work at 5am on the A16 two months ago with three colleagues when they stopped at roadblocks. “A hundred or so men attacked our car with iron bars and sticks. We got out and ran away. You can imagine how frightened I was.”
Pressure has been growing on the French authorities to tackle the problems at the camp, which has expanded in recent months. Talks took place on Friday between protest organisers and Cazeneuve, who has promised to gradually dismantle the camp and move asylum seekers to other locations in France.
Farmers complain that the migrants make their way back and that dispersing them just shifts the problem elsewhere. Pierre-Yves, 47, who drove one of the tractors blocking the roads said: “We are not racist, we are not political, but we are in a situation that is not going away and we’re having difficulty seeing the end, the solution. Farmlands are being camped on, crops damaged, and our turnover is hit.
“This area has always welcomed migrants. The Polish came to work in the mines, Belgians like my grandmother came to work in the lace industry. But back then there were jobs and work. In the current economic situation, it’s not possible.”
Other farmers fear the increasing violence will lead to tragedy. Vincent Cocquet, 41, said “We now confront this problem day after day, night after night and we all fear this is going to finish badly. Very badly.”
Frédéric Van Gansbeke, president of the Calais business and shop owners collective, said Monday’s action was just a start. “We won’t be moving until the state gives us a date for the total dismantling of the northern zone of the Jungle,” he said.
French authorities have made repeated efforts to shut down the camp, which the state was responsible for creating in April 2015 when authorities evicted migrants and refugees from squats and outdoor camps across the Calais area and concentrated them into one patch of wasteland without shelter. Earlier this year, Calais residents and business leaders sent a delegation to see the president, François Hollande, at the Elysée Palace to demand that the region be declared in a “state of exceptional economic catastrophe”.
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siehe auch: Il Manifesto
Calais, l’autostrada contro la giungla
Calais. Catena umana di camionisti, commercianti e operai sulla A16 chiede l’evacuazione immediata dei 10mila rifugiati presenti: «Danneggiano gli affari». Campagna elettorale sui profughi: il Fronte Nazionale si precipita alla protesta. Il governo organizza pullman per redistribuirli sul resto del territorio francese
Nei saloni vellutati di Hangzhou, dove la Cina ha accolto il G20, gli europei hanno alzato la voce: le capacità di accoglienza dei rifugiati nella Ue «hanno quasi raggiunto il limite», ha riassunto il presidente del Consiglio Ue, Donald Tusk.
Al vertice che si terrà negli Usa questo mese su questo problema dovrebbero concretizzarsi alcune risposte, come un’intensificazione internazionale degli aiuti e una condivisione dei costi. Ma in Europa l’impazienza cresce. Un esempio è quello che accade in queste ore a Calais, uno dei grossi punti di frizione e di disperazione. Ieri è iniziata una mobilitazione della popolazione.
L’autostrada A16 è stata bloccata da una catena umana e i manifestanti, ricevuti ieri in Prefettura, non hanno intenzione di mollare prima di avere dal governo una data precisa per l’evacuazione della parte sud della “giungla” (la parte nord è stata evacuata lo scorso febbraio).
La protesta degli abitanti ha unito fette della popolazione che di solito sono lontane, sotto lo sguardo deluso e inquieto degli umanitari che si occupano dei migranti: commercianti, camionisti, lavoratori e sindacati. Tutti denunciano le conseguenze economiche sul territorio dovute alla presenza della giungla. «Non vogliamo stigmatizzare nessuno, non siamo contro i rifugiati, siamo stati i primi ad accoglierli – spiega una commerciante – ma qui la situazione economica è drammatica».
Un ristoratore afferma che rischia il fallimento, perché ormai gli inglesi non vengono più a Calais. Altri abitanti raccontano la paura, dei camionisti con un gilet rosso con la scritta «Amo Calais» hanno presentato uno striscione: «Siamo camionisti, non passeurs di migranti», per denunciare i tentativi di salire sui Tir da parte dei rifugiati che sperano di poter raggiungere la Gran Bretagna.
Dei lavoratori del porto, anche della Cgt, hanno messo delle barriere all’entrata del Tunnel e organizzato un barbecue: «L’occupazione è in calo – spiega uno di loro – qui ci sono famiglie che vivono sul porto, ma a causa degli attacchi ai camion molti trasportatori non vogliono più passare per Calais». Il Fronte nazionale, ieri, si è precipitato a prendere le difese della popolazione.
Il ministro dell’Interno, Bernard Cazeneuve, che alcuni giorni fa era stato di nuovo a Calais, continua a promettere lo smantellamento, ma non può dare date certe. Per la sindaca di Calais, Natacha Bouchart (dei Républicains), «o il governo non prende la misura della gravità della situazione oppure non sa cosa fare e questa non-azione è un’ammissione di impotenza».
Il presidente della Regione Nord, Xavier Bertrand (Républicain) chiede che venga aperto un campo in Gran Bretagna per chi vuole chiedere l’asilo oltre-Manica. I rifugiati di Calais sono entrati nella campagna elettorale. Nicolas Sarkozy, che quando era ministro degli Interni nel 2003 aveva firmato gli accordi del Touquet con Londra (soldi dalla Gran Bretagna, 30 milioni l’anno, per gestire a Calais i candidati all’emigrazione oltre-Manica) adesso denuncia l’intesa. Anche Alain Juppé chiede a Londra di gestire in prima persona la propria immigrazione.
Ma la soluzione sembra un’equazione impossibile. A Parigi sta per essere aperto un luogo di accoglienza che rispetta le norme Onu, che sarà seguito da un altro con dei posti per le persone più fragili. La ministra della Casa, Emmanuelle Cosse, ha assicurato che in Francia i posti nei Cao (Centri di accoglienza e orientamento) saliranno da 2mila a 5mila entro fine mese.
Ma non basta. Ormai, a Calais, intasati in un terreno dimezzato, ci sono tra i 7mila e i 10mila migranti (6900 per le Prefettura, più di 9mila per gli umanitari). L’associazione France Terre d’asile ha recensito a fine agosto 862 minorenni isolati, a fine mese dovrebbe aprire una nuova struttura dedicata a loro. Ma la polizia impedisce ormai la costruzione di capanne in legno, così i rifugiati si intasano di nuovo sotto tende improvvisate.
L’estate è stata drammatica, manca l’acqua, i bagni sono insufficienti. Funziona il centro Jules Ferry, che distribuisce sui 4mila pasti al giorno, dove i rifugiati possono fare una doccia. Ma il governo frena e così i posti mancano sempre.
Lo scontento e la protesta dilagano, sia tra la popolazione che tra i rifugiati, dove le tensioni crescono tra persone di diversa provenienza (nella notte tra il 22 e il 23 agosto un sudanese è stato pugnalato in una rissa con degli afghani).
Il governo organizza dei pullman, per redistribuire i rifugiati sul territorio francese. Ma accetta di abbandonare Calais solo chi ha rinunciato ad andare in Gran Bretagna e ha deciso di iniziare le pratiche di richiesta d’asilo in Francia. La burocrazia è pesante e lenta. Le regole di Dublino continuano a valere, anche se la Francia non le applica a Calais: sono quindi un freno all’accettazione di spostarsi in un’altra regione francese, dove invece restano in vigore.
Una buona parte dei rifugiati sono stati schedati in Italia e rischiano così di venire rispediti nel paese di primo sbarco.