Anger is growing among the mayors of the Channel coast. Their municipalities, in the north of France, are the first to experience the migratory phenomenon towards Great Britain. They came together as a collective and were at the Congress of French Mayors in Paris where they asked the State to take charge of the situation.
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More than 33,500 people have crossed the Channel since the start of the year and 68 have lost their lives. Faced with the deteriorating situation, fifteen elected officials from the northern coast have organized themselves into a collective to denounce the abandonment of the State, but also to make proposals to it.
These mayors describe an increasingly difficult situation: bodies regularly discovered on their beaches, illegal encampments, damage, growing discontent among the population and the feeling of being alone in the face of the challenge.
A coastal prefect requested
Natacha Bouchart, mayor of Calais, the most affected municipality, believes she must respond on a daily basis to a situation which is nevertheless the responsibility of the State. “ Today, we have this impression of habit which is taking hold at the government level. “All things considered, things are not going so bad in Calais.” But the government does not see behind the changing problems, the mafia system which is taking hold with the smugglers. People are absolutely fed up and want to move on », she says at the microphone ofRFI.
Also readMigrations: on the banks of the Channel, with candidates for the crossing to England
The collective has a series of proposals to make to the new government, starting with the appointment of a coastal prefect in charge of immigration, additional means to cover municipal expenses linked to the presence of exiles or even a police force. transport. “ A parent who comes to take his child to the bus stop to go to school, inevitably, this child finds himself in difficulty, he does not at all want to get on when he sees 50 or 60 migrants at the bus stop. interior », According to Corinne Noël, the mayor of Marck, near Calais.
“ The British government must open legal immigration channels »
The collective of coastal mayors calls on the new Minister of the Interior to work with them and engage in a showdown with the United Kingdom. “ The British government must open legal immigration channels “, urged this Wednesday, November 20, the collective cited by theAFP. “ We are in complete hypocrisy, we talk about a border, but it does not exist since the British authorities accept all migrants who arrive », added Natacha Bouchart, mayor of Calais, at a press conference.
According to the Pas-de-Calais prefecture, around a thousand candidates for exile are currently staying on the French coast. The year 2024 is already shaping up to be the costliest in human lives since 2018 and the start of the so-called “small boats” phenomenon, these makeshift boats used to attempt the crossing.
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