French police are convinced activists from far-left anarchist groups, many of them British, are working to “manipulate migrants” and coordinate attacks and crossings in Calais. They also aim to increase violent clashes, so the police will be portrayed badly in the media and will be forced to stand down.
Migrants rather suddenly changed their tactics last week, on the 29th of June, when together 2,000 stormed the channel tunnel in Calais. Police were overwhelmed, and said at the time they thought the attack was planned in the camp.
Since then, 200 migrants coordinated to attempt to walk through the tunnel, hundreds then performed a ‘sit-in’ style protest, and some have taken to shouting familiar slogans like “open the borders” and “we are all human.” Others have become more violent, attacking French police.
This weekend far-left activists held a demonstration called “No More Migrant Deaths” in Folkestone, England, when many may also be encouraging migrants to take dangerous and illegal measures to enter the country.
Gilles Debove, of police union Unité SGP-Police FO, said French police were convinced the action was being coordinated and encouraged by radical activists, some belonging to the No Borders group.
He told The Telegraph: “I’ve never seen an organised sit-in before. This is being encouraged not by human traffickers, who wish to remain discreet, but by extreme Left elements here to manipulate the migrants in the name of their ideal of imposing a country without borders or police.”
“Among these activists are quite a few Britons,” he added. “For now they have been allowed to act with total impunity. It’s time for a return to the rule of law: they need to be identified and arrested.
“They are seeking opportunities to provoke clashes with the police and violence in the hope that the police will drop their guard (in protecting the site). They want to depict us as savages. But if there was any police brutality, it would be all over the news.”
The day the migrants attempted the sit-in was also the day of a French public holiday, and there were few lorries on the road to disrupt. Debove suggests it was all a stunt:
“In fact, it was all a manipulation for the benefit of the media… They are hoping that police will respond with violence, and that they will film that and that police are then told to stand off.”
He also suggest the recent increase in violence from migrants at Calais, including the incident of a French policeman being hit with a rock resulting in hospital treatment, was because of activists stirring hatred.
No Borders “is a network of groups and individuals,” who claim on their website to, “struggle against borders and immigration controls and strive for freedom of movement for all.” They have been active in Calais for several years.
Flyers in many different languages are being handed out to migrants instructing them how to make the crossing, and there are even reports of workshops being held by far-left groups. The literature warns migrants that British Home Office officials are “not your friends” and “will try to refuse your claim and remove you.”
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