Criminalised For Daring To Film The Police

Marie-Noëlle Guès is well known to the police in Calais as 'the journalist'. Outside of school hours (she is a teacher) she has been a regular on the streets of Calais since 2004, filming and monitoring the actions of the CRS and Border police against the migrants in the area.

In October 2007 she came across 2 Eritreans who had just been released from the Coquelles detention centre. They asked her to translate a document they had just been issued with. It turned out to be a deportation notice and she offered to go with them to the Lille Administrative Tribunal to help them challenge the order.

They subsequently stopped to talk to a number of other migrants, when a van-load of CRS turned up to 'check papers' and generally harass the migrants. Marie-Noëlle then tried to film the pursuit and arrest of some migrants who tried to flee the scene but was asked to move on by the police. She continued to surreptitiously film as she challenged the CRS's right to both prevent her from filming and to arrest the 2 Eritreans who had only been released from custody 4 hours before.

Eventually the police realised that Marie-Noëlle was still filming and violently arrested her. Handcuffing her and putting her in the back of their van, one radioed HQ that they had "arrested the journalist". She was held in custody for 24 hours and charged with contempt and 'rebellion'.

At her trial on 23 April 2008, the prosecution presented testimony from the CRS and the owner of the café the arrest occurred outside and asked for a 3 month prison sentence, but Marie-Noëlle was acquitted. The CRS and state prosecutor appealed the decision.

At the appeal hearing on 2 April 2009, the judge refused to view the film taken during the incident, which refutes the café-owner's version of events, and convicted Marie-Noëlle. Her sentence was to pay €4 per day for 90 days (€360) or a day in prison for each €4 unpaid, plus €100 per 'outraged' and 'attacked' CRS officer, €3-400 in prosecution legal costs.

Donations can be sent to a support fund at:
la Mouette Enragée
B.P 403
62 2206 Boulogne-Sur-Mer Cedex
France

The video taken by Marie-Noëlle at the incident can be seen at: wat.tv