The French authorities have slowly been releasing some of the migrants detained in the early morning mass-raids in and around Calais yesterday. Far from being an action to break any people-smuggling rings as claimed, it now appears that it was merely an attempt at mass intimidation of those Afghans amongst the arrested.
The first person to be released from PAF Coquelles was a 16 year old Afghan, who said he had been pressured into accepting 1000 euros in return for agreeing to return to Afghanistan, despite the fact that he is a minor and has the right to remain in France under French law. There is speculation that those Afghans who continue to be held in Coquelles will not be released until they too have signed up to return to Afghanistan. It also appears that most of the migrants transported to Boulogne were released late yesterday afternoon and have walked the 6 hour 19 mile journey back to Calais.
In separate news Natacha Bouchart, the right-wing mayor of Calais, has called for the French army to be brought in to destroy the 'Jungles' in and around Calais, one and for all. This follows hot on the heels of her claim a couple of days ago that the 'problem' of the migrants in Northern France lies solely at Britain's door, claiming that asylum seekers in Britain lead some mythic easy life and that Britain should either sign up to Schengen or pay the estimated £12M that the Calais Chamber of Trade spend on port security each year (as if that is all spent on preventing migrants entering the port area).
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