FRANCE: COURT IN LILLE BEGINS CONSIDERING DEMAND BY CHANNEL TUNNEL OPERATOR EUROSTAR TO CLOSE SANGATTE REFUGEE CAMP
Record ID:
647419
FRANCE: COURT IN LILLE BEGINS CONSIDERING DEMAND BY CHANNEL TUNNEL OPERATOR EUROSTAR TO CLOSE SANGATTE REFUGEE CAMP
- Title: FRANCE: COURT IN LILLE BEGINS CONSIDERING DEMAND BY CHANNEL TUNNEL OPERATOR EUROSTAR TO CLOSE SANGATTE REFUGEE CAMP
- Date: 10th September 2001
- Summary: (U3) LILLE, FRANCE (SEPTEMBER 11, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. SLV: JOURNALISTS OUTSIDE LILLE ADMINISTRATIVE COURT 0.03 2. SV: FRENCH GOVERNMENT DELEGATION ARRIVING 0.09 3. SCU: EUROTUNNEL DIRECTOR M. BERTRAND ARRIVING AT COURT 0.18 4. PAN UP: EUROTUNNEL LAWYER JEAN PIERRE BOIVIN (ON THE RIGHT) WITH ANOTHER LAWYER 0.23 5. SV/PAN: FRENCH GOVERNMENT LAWYER CLAIRE DAVAL; CLAIRE DAVAL AND JEAN PIERRE BOIVIN TALKING (2 SHOTS) 0.42 6. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (French) CLAIRE DAVAL SAYING "When the centre was opened, the immigrants who will always try to cross the Tunnel because there is no other crossing point appart from boats to make it to England, so they will always find themselves at the Tunnel's entrance. There is not any other solution but to create a centre that at least allows them to live in decent conditions. It is not the creation of Sangatte that has created the problem, but the problem itself that has led us to open Sangatte." 1.11 7. SV: PRESIDENT OF COURT JEAN MAX BRUNET ARRIVING 1.22 8. PAN: LAWYERS INSIDE COURT HOUSE; MV JOURNALISTS LEAVING THE ROOM 1.28 (W4) SANGATTE, FRANCE (10 SEPTEMBER 2001) (REUTERS) 9. WS/SLV: EXTERIOR SANGATTE CAMP; MV REFUGEES COVERING THEIR FACES COMING OUT OF POLICE VAN; SLV REFUGEES WALKING INTO SANGATTE WITH CHILDREN (4 SHOTS) 2.04 10. PAN EXTERIOR SANGATTE; VARIOUS OF GROUPS OF REFUGEES MARCHING ALONG STREETS, TOWARDS TUNNEL; REFUGEES HIDING BEHIND BUSHES, VERY CLOSE TO TUNNEL TERMINAL; LV TRAIN GOING INTO TUNNEL (5 SHOTS) 2.49 11. CV BARBED WIRE, FOCUS OUT TO POLICE CAR AND SURVEILLANCE CAMERA 2.59 12. SLV TRUCK TERMINAL WITH TRUCKS 3.04 13. SCU: SIGN ON BARBED WIRE READING "LIMIT OF THE BRITISH CONTROL ZONE" 3.12 14. SLV: TRAIN CARRYING LORRIES SEEN PASSING BEHIND BARBED WIRE 3.19 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 25th September 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LILLE AND SANGATTE, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Reuters ID: LVA6ITLQKQO7UV11GOT3O0TL95PT
- Story Text: A court in Lille has started debating the future of
the Sangatte refugee centre following a demand to close it
down by Eurotunnel operators. Hundreds of refugees from the
centre have tried, and many succeeded, to enter Great Britain
illegally by stowing themselves into trucks and other vehicles
going across the Channel.
A French court started considering on Tuesday
(September 11) a demand by Channel Tunnel rail operator
Eurotunnel to close Sangatte, a refugee camp used as a base
for nightly attempts by asylum seekers to sneak into Britain.
The administrative tribunal of the northern city of Lille
could announce its decision within hours, or days, of the
public hearing.
Lawyers for Eurotunnel argued that the presence of the Red
Cross-run camp, which houses about 1,600 mainly Afghan,
Iranian and Kurdish immigrants, is severely hampering freight
operations at its terminal on the French side of the Channel.
Sangatte, just two km (1.2 miles) from the Coquelles terminal,
is the staging post for nightly attempts by hundreds of
desperate refugees to stow away on trucks and freight shuttles
crossing to Britain.
Set up two years ago to house a few hundred immigrants
sleeping rough in nearby Calais, the camp has become a bone of
contention between London and Paris, both of whom insist the
other must act to solve the problem.
British Home Secretary (interior minister) David Blunkett
is to urge French action at a meeting on Wednesday (September
12) with his counterpart Daniel Vaillant, who in turn says
the refugees are being lured to the coast by Britain's
generous asylum laws.
Eurotunnel argues that by allowing the Sangatte camp to
stay open the French state is breaking promises to ensure the
security of the French terminal, where it has spent millions
of dollars on guards, video surveillance and perimeter
fencing. The company has even hired retired British army
general Sir Roger Wheeler, a veteran of conflicts in Bosnia,
Northern Ireland and the Falklands, to review its security
arrangements.
The company has also taken legal action against a British
government threat to fine it for every immigrant found
illegally entering the country aboard its trains.
In a sign of growing exasperation, a young security guard
stationed at the rail access to the Tunnel confessed over the
weekend to having shot an 18-year-old Afghan refugee in the
leg as he attempted to break-in last Tuesday. The guard and
three colleagues are under police investigation on charges of
intentional armed assault.
The refugee has been discharged from hospital after an
operation to remove the bullet.
Locals have also shown increasing irritation at the
presence of the refugees. Some 100 residents staged a protest
on Saturday to demand the closure of the camp, which they say
has hijacked life in the village of 890 residents.
Even if the court decides in favour of keeping the camp
open, the government has proposed to rehouse about 200 of its
inhabitants in the grounds of a hospital in the town of
Bailleul 60 km (40 miles) southeast of the Tunnel terminal.
Eurotunnel argues that the presence of the Red-Cross camp,
which houses about 1,600 mainly Afghan, Iranian and Kurdish
immigrants, is severely hampering freight operations at its
terminal on the French side of the Channel, where it has spent
millions of dollars on guards, video surveillance and
perimeter fencing.
Eurotunnel said that in the first six months of this year
it prevented 18,500 individual attempts to board its trains.
The company is also fighting the British government over its
policy of fining them 2,000 pounds for every stow away that
slips out of France to arrive at Dover on board their ships,
trains and lorries.
France has said it is seeking alternatives to the Sangatte
refugee camp. One option may be to house around half of its
inhabitants at a site in the inland town of Bailleul, some 60
km (40 miles) southeast of the terminal.
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