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Vol. 79/No. 30 August 24, 2015
Refugees in France say, ‘Open the borders’
Militant/Claude Bleton
CALAIS, France — Chanting, “Open the borders, we want freedom!” some
300 immigrants and their supporters marched here Aug. 8.
The protest set out from ”The Jungle,” a makeshift camp of tents and
shacks on the outskirts of the city, and finished up on the Calais pier.
Some 4,000 immigrants from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, Syria,
Afganistan and Pakistan, fleeing conditions of war and social crisis,
have been staying in the camp for months.
The demonstration was the initiative of French immigrant rights
organizations, including Emmaus, Article 13 and Migrants’ Inn.
Supporters came from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the U.K.
Protesters carried handmade placards with the names of the 12 people who
have died attempting to cross the English Channel from Calais to the
U.K. since June. Other placards read “No more deaths” and “Migrants =
humans.” Banner above reads, “Bring down the walls.”
The protesters were also responding to the cops’ using pepper spray
against immigrants and the building of a new mile-long fence to stop
immigrants getting to the U.K. via the Channel Tunnel.
— DEBRA JACOBS
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