FRANCE: MIGRANTS THREATEN TO KILL THEMSELVES IF POLICE STORM A CHURCH WHERE THEY ARE SHELTERING IN CALAIS

Record ID: 348913

  • Title: FRANCE: MIGRANTS THREATEN TO KILL THEMSELVES IF POLICE STORM A CHURCH WHERE THEY ARE SHELTERING IN CALAIS
  • Date: 13th November 2002
  • Summary: (W5) CALAIS, FRANCE (NOVEMBER 13, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LAS/SV/MCU OF REFUGEES HAVING BREAKFAST OUTSIDE ST PIERRE ST PAUL CHURCH (5 SHOTS) 0.18 2. LAS/SV POLICE OUTSIDE CHURCH (2 SHOTS) 0.31 3. SLV OF CHURCH EXTERIOR WITH REFUGEES 0.35 4. CU OF FEET OR REFUGEE SITTING ON WINDOWSILL 0.38 5. CU REFUGEE ON STRETCHER,
  • Embargoed: 28th November 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CALAIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA8E6M5LN62R5SKN596ADJC5TYP
  • Story Text: A stalemate between French police and mostly Kurdish
    asylum seekers taking refuge in the Saint Pierre Saint Paul
    church in the northern French port of Calais has arisen after
    several dozen refugees refused to leave, demanding safe
    passage to Britain. The refugees say they will kill themselves
    if the church is stormed by security services.



    Migrants from trouble spots threatened to kill
    themselves on Wednesday (November 13) if police stormed a
    church where they were sheltering in the French port of
    Calais, last hurdle for many on a stowaway route to Britain.

    "If policemen come inside...we will kill self and fight
    self," Karwan Ahmad, a Kurdish occupant of the church, said in
    broken English from inside a ring of about a dozen riot police
    officers who had cordoned off the building.

    Around 70 Iraqi Kurds and other migrants were holed up in
    the Saint Pierre Saint Paul church. Many were determined to
    get to Britain after dangerous journeys in the backs of trucks
    from far-flung lands. Calais is a major ferry and rail link to
    Britain.

    After spending a fourth night inside, with no toilets and
    riot police outside, the migrants risked being forced out in a
    showdown that has thrust the plight of refugees back into the
    spotlight.

    French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy decided at crisis
    talks with Calais Mayor Jacky Henin in Paris on Tuesday
    morning to give the occupiers of the church 24 hours to leave.

    No specific hour was given, but the announcement was taken
    to mean police could move in by late morning. Journalists said
    police were still outside the church shortly after midday but
    showed little sign of preparing a raid.

    Henin, a Communist, has accused the centre-right
    government of "heresy" for getting the nearby Sangatte camp to
    exclude new arrivals a week ago, more than a week earlier than
    planned.

    But he said the church could not be occupied indefinitely.

    The group at the church, backed by rights activists, are
    demanding the same treatment as 1,800 people who are sheltered
    at the Red Cross-run Sangatte camp, and want passes to remain
    in the Calais area.

    The Sangatte camp, often used as a staging post for
    stowaways desperate to sneak into Britain on trucks, trains
    and ferries that make the short trip daily by sea or the
    undersea tunnel, shut its doors to arrivals on Tuesday last
    week.

    The church occupants brandished a banner on Tuesday which
    read: "We want to go to Sangatte or to die".

    Just over 30 refugees left the church on Monday, accepting
    an offer of the right to file asylum requests and receive
    temporary shelter in other parts of northern France.

    France traditionally does not send migrants back to their
    home countries if they come from conflict zones such as Iraq,
    Afghanistan or Kosovo.

    London took France to task for turning a blind eye to the
    flood of migrants trying to get into Britain from France, and
    demanded the closure of the Sangatte camp.

    Sarkozy agreed in return for adoption of tougher asylum
    laws in Britain, whose reputation as an easy place to start a
    new life has lured thousands of refugees in past decades.


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