With the start of the winter break, the state has undertaken to "systematically" offer accommodation to migrants displaced from their makeshift camps in Calais.

But the measure struggles to convince the local actors, who are continuing a hunger strike.

The commitments, presented on Tuesday November 2 by the government mediator sent on the spot, indeed intervene on the 23rd day of a hunger strike initiated by three activists. 

This continued on Tuesday despite these concrete proposals, after fruitless discussions last week, against the backdrop of almost daily camp evacuations in Calais. 

Hundreds of places to create 

"We will systematically offer accommodation which will be mainly in Pas-de-Calais, in Hauts-de-France, but not in Calais," this mediator, the director general of the Office, had previously told AFP. French for Immigration and Integration (Ofii) Didier Leschi. 

The latter thus recognized de facto that the evacuations of camps in Calais were not always accompanied by proposals for sheltering, which is however the rule.

To keep its commitment, the State will have to "increase its accommodation base" by "several hundred places", he stressed. 

The director general of Ofii was sent for a "contact and mediation mission" with the strikers - the priest Philippe Demeestère, chaplain of the Secours Catholique aged 72, and two activists, Anaïs Vogel and Ludovic Holbein - who demand the outright stop of dismantling during the winter break, which entered into force on Monday. 

The fear of the return of the "jungle"

But the announcements of the representative of the State also respond to a fear: "the government fears that the 'jungle' will reconstitute itself in Calais", five years after the dismantling in October 2016 of this gigantic encampment which united, in humanitarian conditions chaotic, up to 10,000 candidates for passage to England. 

"This fear is linked to the scale of the flows: since the beginning of the year, there are almost 40,000 people who have arrived" on the north coast, explains Didier Leschi. 

"The state cannot knowingly allow a clandestine departure base to be organized for England when people are risking their lives in addition to crossing the Channel," he added. 

Insufficient announcements for humanitarians

However, these announcements were deemed insufficient by local associations who continue to demand a "moratorium" on evacuations.

They therefore slammed the door of discussions Tuesday afternoon after having already deplored last week an "electoralist" visit. 

"What is proposed by the government is not the end of evictions, the end of harassment and the end of inhuman and degrading treatment during the winter break", regretted Diane Léon, coordinator of Médecins du Monde for the North . 

The commitments presented on Tuesday are "exactly the same" as those on which discussions had failed last week, lamented Nathanaël Caillaux, of Secours Catholique: "We did not see how these proposals were going to change people's lives, were going to allow people who are harassed on a daily basis no longer to be ". 

The hunger strikers, installed in the Saint-Pierre church in Calais day and night for more than three weeks, also intend to continue their standoff. 

Confiscations

Like the associations, they denounce the confiscations of the meager personal effects of migrants, at the option of expulsions.

"It is necessary to leave the possibility to people to recover their personal effects before the operations of sheltering", proposes on this point the boss of Ofii, recognizing a "real problem".

Concretely, a period "of about 45 minutes" will now be left to migrants to gather their affairs: "there will be no more evacuations by surprise", promises the mediator, also assuring that a marauding of the State "will pass before each evacuation" to carry out a social diagnosis, in conjunction with associations. 

An "airlock" will also be set up, with transport available to allow exiles to reach the accommodation centers "every morning".

All these proposals could come into force as soon as "the weekend", said Didier Leschi. 

At the end of a day of meetings, in particular with the strikers, the mediator said he hoped that "the solutions as they will be implemented will eventually show that there is good will on the part of the State". 

With AFP

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