FRANCE-UK: CALAIS: People protest, move on as situation worsens

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Refugees target Cherbourg port as security tightens at Calais (The Telegraph, link): "Since the start of the year, there have been more than 400 attempts by migrants to sneak on to ships in Cherbourg bound for England or Ireland.

That is twice the number of attempts for the whole of 2015, according to the most senior state official in the region.

Many more may head there from Calais in the coming weeks as French authorities continue the demolition of half of the squalid Jungle, which is home to up to 7,000 migrants."


Refugees sew mouths shut in protest at Calais camp (NRT, link): "A number of refugees have sewn their lips shut in protest over the Calais “Jungle” camp’s closure, which began over a week ago in northern France.

NRT correspondent Halgurd Samad said French authorities are destroying the southern part of the camp where more than 1,500 refugees had settled.

The refugees taking part in a literal silent protest want to be resettled across the channel in England. They say they represent all of the refugees who were or are still living in the camp, and that they are waiting for a response from the British government."


Far-right activists 'impersonated police to attack refugees for money and mobile phones' in Calais (The Independent, link): "A group of far-right activists have reportedly admitted impersonating as police officers to attack and rob refugees in a series of attacks in Calais.

The five local men, aged between 19 and 14, were arrested on Wednesday and include the founder of an anti-immigration movement and protest organisers."


UK 'to give France €20 million extra' to stop migrants and refugees reaching England from Calais (The Independent, link): "David Cameron is to agree to give an extra €20 million (£15.4 million) to France for policing and dispersing migrants attempting to reach the UK from Calais, a minister has said.

In a radio interview before a Franco-British summit at Amiens in the Somme, the French Europe minister, Harlem Desir, said the extra funding came on top of previous British spending of €60 million (£47 million)."


More news and documentation: Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (14.3.16)

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