MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd July, 2020) There was no surge in coronavirus infections in the migrant community in northern France even though authorities continue to dismantle camps, leaving people on the streets with no hygiene facilities amid the pandemic, the secretary general of SALAM, a French migrant charity working in Dunkirk and Calais, told Sputnik.
"We have not seen any change for a long time. They continue to dismantle the camps every second day; the Dunes industrial area [common spot for migrant camps in Calais] is mostly targeted. Now it is every five days, things are being taken away ... We have 1,200 people on streets, it is tough. The conditions are not easy for people who are there," Claire Millot said.
She said that the police used to offer people a transfer to a shelter, but they refused, as normally this would mean that they would most likely be deported afterward.
"There was a proposition of shelter for some period, in March and April. But it is made in such a delicate manner: the CRS [French national police] comes, they dismantle the camps, and then comes a bus, accompanied by other police vans, and offers to take you to shelter, and obviously, people do not want to go," Millot said.
The official added that aid organizations were fearing the worst scenario for the migrant population in the region, but the situation remained stable.
"We were expecting something horrible... because they are packed, close to one another without any hygiene, but finally this has not been the case. We just had some light cases," she stated.
The situation with migrant arrivals in northern France remained unchanged amid the pandemic, with people still continuing to come to Calais, the SALAM secretary-general concluded.
