Everyone in the camp on the outskirts of Dunkirk has heard of these 27 people Who drowned on Wednesday.
Everyone knows the risks. But everyone said they still have the same plan, try to travel to England by boat, because they don’t believe that death will come to them-and because they want to live a better life.
Mila, an Iraqi Kurd, said that he left Sulaymaniyah because there was “no life” at home, and many people in and outside the camp repeated this sentence. He admitted that taking a boat to Britain is “very dangerous; there will be big waves”, but he is ready to embark on a dangerous journey, hoping to eventually earn money to send home.
Like Mira, many people in the camp said they came here from Belarus. Mohammed looked much older than he said he was 17 years old. He said he flew to Qatar first, then to Minsk, and then crossed the border into Poland.Afterwards, travel across Germany to the north France It’s simple-but the next part is not.
“The police found me and transferred me to a hotel near the Spanish border. But I don’t want to go to Spain, I want to come to the UK. I have friends in Nottingham, London and Birmingham,” he said. “So I am back here, I will try to cross and join them”-the end of the journey that has allowed him more than a month.
Mohammed said he had to find $2,000 to pay for a human smuggler, which is only a fraction of the ferry price. It is not yet clear where the money came from, although others in the camp said that their family members are paying for them.
The campsite on the outskirts of Dunkirk is located next to a canal and an abandoned railway line. It is at the disposal of the French authorities. The charity stated that the frequency of police raids may be once every two days.
Therefore, the site is very basic; heating during the day is provided by an open flame, so protection from the cold is minimal. There is food relief, and there are charities that provide free Wi-Fi and electricity. People can squeeze around to charge their phones, but there are no toilets.
Ten days ago, a site near a nearby shopping mall was demolished under the order of the French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. The directive was issued after the number of immigrants (most of them young adult men) increased from an estimated 400 to more than 1,000, after more than doubling.
It seems that the change in numbers occurred after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko opened up to people who wanted to come here. EuropeBut the charity stated that due to the cold autumn, the number of people in camps in northern France has dropped overall.
Iraqi Kurds dominate camps near Dunkirk, but people from countries such as Sudan and Eritrea tend to live in nearby Calais. “In Calais and its surrounding area, we think the number is close to 1,000 now; before summer it was 2,000,” Álvaro Lucas, coordinator of the Refugee Information Bus, a charity providing advice and support Say.
What makes this crisis even more prominent is that more and more people are trying to cross the English Channel by boat, and their lives are at greater risk. Matt Colin, operations coordinator of the rescue charity Care4Calais, said: “It is frustrating that we are only talking about 1,500 or 2,000 people who want to come to the UK; if there are different ways, it feels like this problem is easy to solve.”
