Illustration of migrants delivered to the cold.

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Rex / SIPA

Even greater distress in the face of winter conditions.

Associations helping migrants on the coast of the North and Pas-de-Calais are worried, in particular in Grande-Synthe.

The prefecture refuses, in fact, to open rooms there to accommodate them on site, for fear of new “fixing points”.

In a letter addressed to the prefect of the North, on January 12, and sent to AFP on Saturday, the associations intervening in Grande-Synthe ask him to put in place "as a matter of urgency, a device for long-lasting shelter (...) throughout the winter period and scattered along the coast ”.

Physically and mentally exhausted

They say they have collected "countless testimonies of men, women and children physically and mentally exhausted by winter conditions (cold, rain, humidity, wind, etc.)".

According to them, the shelters currently offered by the authorities in reception and examination centers (CAES) are inadequate to the needs of exiles, who for the most part do not wish to seek asylum in France. or cannot do so because they have already deposited their fingerprints in another European country.

“When people get on the buses, they don't know where they are going.

It is never less than 30 km.

They find themselves far away, they sometimes stay a few days and they come back, ”summarizes Claire Millot, of the Salam association, reporting that one of these shelter operations took place on Saturday, when they did not. usually not on weekends.

"There are still places"

If the sub-prefect of Dunkirk, Hervé Tourmente, assumes "the choice made in the North not to open a gymnasium or large room that would create fixing points", he underlines that, as of Friday, the devices for upgrading shelters have been reinforced.

"More than 100 people accepted between Friday and Saturday" this shelter and "the device is not saturated, there are still places", he indicates.

About 150 places are available in the department "but if necessary we can open more", he says.

"The consistency of the authorities' policy is to discourage people from staying there, so this involves remote reception facilities", regrets François Guennoc, from the Auberge des migrants.

In Calais, the Pas-de-Calais prefecture, on the other hand, opened a hangar to accommodate migrants during the night "following requests related to weather conditions", in addition to places in CAES, explained on Saturday to the 'AFP, the sub-prefect of Calais, Michel Tournaire.

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  • Winter

  • Cold

  • Lille

  • Calais

  • Migrants

  • Grande-Synthe