In a migrant camp near Calais.

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ERIC DESSONS / JDD / SIPA

The Council of State refused on Friday to suspend the prefectural decree prohibiting associations from the distribution of food and drinks to migrants and migrants in the center of Calais, the institution said in a statement.

Seized urgently, the Council of State "notes that this ban does not prevent associations from carrying out their missions in the immediate vicinity of the city center" and that "the ban on distribution is strictly limited to the areas defined by the prefect" , according to this press release.

The summary judge “firstly observes that the State has set up, to the east of the city, water points and toilets, and proceeds, through the association La Vie active, to the distribution of drinks and food "but also that the pronounced ban" does not deprive the associations of the possibility of carrying out their mission, outside the zone prohibited by the decree, including near places life of migrants ”.

No emergency

"The judge in summary proceedings of the Council of State firmly recalls, in this regard, that the ban can in no case be applied by the police forces beyond the defined perimeter", underlines this press release.

“Under these conditions, the judge of the Conseil d'État, who did not rule on the justified and proportionate nature of the ban, considered that there was no urgent need to order, in the forty-eight hour period provided for in summary proceedings, the suspension of the prefectural decree ”, explains the Council of State.

Taken following a meeting between the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin and the mayor (LR) of Calais Natacha Bouchart, the decree prohibits until the end of September any free distribution by associations not mandated by the State in about twenty streets, quays and squares in the city center.

The State services, which estimate at a thousand the number of migrants present in Calais and the surrounding area, hoping to reach England, justify this ban by disturbing public order and the fact that these distributions do not would not allow proper compliance with social distancing measures.

Society

Associations demand the cancellation of the ban on distributing meals to migrants in Calais

Justice

Justice upholds the decree that prohibits the distribution of food to migrants

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  • Refugees

  • Calais

  • Migrants

  • Society