Migrant Crisis in Calais: Britain's Border War (Dispatch 1)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] speee we're in Cal where just a few days ago the police cleared out a migrant camp where up to 300 people were living they moved in bulldozed down their makeshift tents and moved people on now around a 100 of these migrants have come back to this Camp here you got someone just sleeping completely on the ground no tent no nothing pretty dismal situation to be honest there seem to be quite a regular stream of people coming back into the camp I guess it's Poss with that they've tried to jump the Border last night which we're told is when a lot of that activity happens um obviously unsuccessful and a filtering back into the camp morning morning what happened police and you got turned back I back and you're trying to get into the UK I we TR and what do you want there we want there there is a best life the people said there is a human right so that's why we come to go to UK we spoke to Jamal an Afghan Refugee making his second attempt into the UK from Cal thank you very much tell me how did you end up here in C I come from Afghanistan from Afghanistan to I went to Pakistan uh from Pakistan I come to Iran from Iran I come to Turkey from Turkey I went to Bulgaria from Bulgaria I come to Greece from Greece I come to Italy from Italy I come to France we have been here for like more than 3 months why did you have to leave Afghanistan because about war if you work with the Taliban like I mean you join Taliban the Army will kill you if you join um army Taliban will kill you sure if you stay in the middle both of them they kill you what did you expect when you came to Cal were you thought you could get to the UK easily or no easily it's very hard trying many many time about like five six times and the police was catching and find out in a TR truck and then take out so many people was killed as well because very dangerous this is you have to play with your life my friend was being killed he he was uh I think jump on a truck and then he fell down does that not scare you my friend when you need it when you are in a trouble in a problem you can play with the de as well in the camp the conditions were squalled the migrants had no showers three overflowing portalus for toilets and no access to healthc care we spoke with one of the refugees who'd been living in Cal after fleeing from war in Afghanistan so how long you been here John four months what's it like living here seem like animal animal is better than us I live here you live here you live here you sleep here how many uh 15 people sometime I sleep outside because many people and were you in the camp over there before yeah I've been there and police is coming destroyed everything I've stayed on my T mhm I drink coffee police coming behind me mhm he pushed me first first time from a backside yeah and KCK me my face kicked you in the face yes wow my n is broke police is from French can do anything and nobody can answer for me you sit here yeah nice comfortable comfortable when it's dry not imagine not so much when it's raining some people say that you come to the UK you're just going to take benefits you're not going to work I mean what do you think to that we don't want any benefit from UK Authority because we are young we have a power and we can work there what kind of jobs did you have I mean what kind of people are here actually I'm a writer and journalist I published three of my books we sat with many migrants in Salam who were convinced that the UK would offer them a better life than the ones they' left [Music] behind like this what you guys eating kidney beans I'll try a it sit down sit down you sure yeah was this your first meal of the day yeah it's nice it's nice you guys went to a jungle or no yeah yeah we want to yeah if you could take us that' be great okay first let me go ask the guy Jamal offered to take us to another Camp outside of Salam known ominously as the jungle but as words spread his uncle stepped in and told us that it was too dangerous we still wanted to see what was going on there so Jamal showed us the location on a map and wished us luck as we made our way without him this is creepy seems to be quite an obvious Trail going through here as you get closer there becomes more rubbish on the floor it doesn't seem like anybody's here anymore I think we should go further in careful fresh human we've just seen some tarp pings in the distance amongst the trees so we're going to go over there and see if anyone's around someone in there hello anyone home so there's some more makeshift tents around here I've just seen somebody there's someone here hello we speak think take this oh brilliant thank you just to sit on yeah you sure that's okay okay excellent thank you you said you didn't want to go on camera at all or no no but they know come please come sure sure I understand I was in England I my by bus i h i sure this me so it's an application registration card from the home office and it says here you're forbidden for taking employment so you couldn't get work in the UK because of this card you have a full driving license British driver's license and then this stamp what does this mean this this immigration officer they stopped you from okay and they sent you back to Cal yeah and this is your Afghani passport yeah so it seems there are people living here he had his Afghani passport with him he had a British driving license as well there seems to be a 10er here looks like a bigger camp hello where are you from Afghanistan Afghanistan and most people here from Afghanistan yeah nine people nine people here five this uh three this three this fire tank police come here fire tank this club spr Tas yeah and beat you up yeah this problem no sleeping here and you're trying to get to the UK yeah no chance UK how long have you lived here 150 days Days 150 days yeah conditions are bad in Salam they don't seem that terrible here at least they have tents they have some privacy but their biggest fear seems to be the police a lot of migrants have been saying that when you're in The Jungle by night they'll come and beat you up there's no evidence you can't prove that it happened the isolation of the jungle seems a depressing Last Resort for the migrants living there the ones we spoke to were less hopeful but still waiting for their chance to get to the UK it's 6:00 a.m. we're at the Lori Park in Cal just over there is the jungle and here we have lorries going to all different places in Europe specifically the UK which is where most of the migrants want to go now everyone we've spoken to they want to get out of Cal they want to get out of France as soon as possible so they come here they try to St aboard the Lor's and already we've seen one driver get out of his cab pull back the tarpo in and look for starways when we spoke to some of the migrants in Salam they said that they actually hide underneath these tiny spaces in the Lorry and whilst this is moving at high speed if they fall it's certain death we'd seen dozens of tents at Salam but with the arrival of a charity providing free food only then did it become apparent how many refugees there really were in the city reports suggest that there are now over 800 migrants in Cal after the number of new arrivals doubled in the last two months I got got this hello room for us jeez rainy day rainy yeah horrible rainy rainy day it's drier in here than it is over there they're soaked all their beddings wet everything but who built this I built it you built it and very easy I'm making 10 minutes this really yeah should be a builder yeah miss being back home in Afghanistan yeah of course the mostly parents when was the last time you spoke to your parents oh spoke like one month before when did you leave Afghanistan uh when I was 16 when you were 16 wow so more than than 10 years years more than 10 years W you've been trying to get to England ever since what's in the bag yeah many stops clothes shoes new shoes okay new clothes shampoos this is basically everything you own yeah in one bag yeah I got another bag small one and inside in this when I'm going to try I leave this one big one here the small one I go I take this one right okay with me and then go so this is what you will take with you basically like a kit to try and Escape into England with everybody got everyone's got these packs yeah always new didn't use if you are in this clothes M it will be no problem because everybody will know of this and this so they'll spot you they'll think you're a migrant okay so when you get to the UK you'll pull that on and blend in as we said our goodbyes and left Salam we saw a constant stream of migrants wandering by the side of the road every day they make this trip trying to stow away to the UK so they can get out of the desperate situation in Cal a week after leaving C we had conditions that Salam had deteriorated the district council however had supposedly come up with a solution to the migrant situation so these guys are from the prefecture and they've just come to tell everybody what their future holds here at Salam if you don't accept that we can accept that can French government give us T they do want for ail this man he have ail three months is going him sleep with us that tomor that they want staying in France it will be guaranteed that you have apartment today is 8 day we the right we need legal status for these people have some possibil can have some amonite and good life accept thank you very much in an attempt to draw more attention to their situation around 20 of the migrants had gone on hunger strike and hadn't eaten for 8 days we saw an ambulance pulling up and a migrant being escorted out of the camp through the fence seems like things are getting pretty serious basically passed out from malnourishment when we spoke to John he said actually they ordered this ambulance an hour ago and it's only just turned up no Sirens that day we'd seen three migrants rush to hospital after collapsing from the Hunger Strike what's the purpose behind the hunger strike actually want from British authority to take us one for our situation in our conditions whose idea was it to hunger strike s all guys everyone decided yeah everyone decided because here is life is so difficult how do you all feel I mean you look John you look different man I ate I didn't eat how do you feel how you feel inside your head I feel really bad yeah I think all these guys decide if we die it's better than this life the situation in Cal has been ongoing for 15 years now for every Camp the authorities flatten a new one is bound to pop up every day more and more migrants are crossing the Mediterranean to seek refuge in Europe many of them are headed for the UK and will likely end up stuck at these [Music] borders [Music] [Music]

Channel: VICE News

Views: 941,324

Keywords: afghanistan, syria, sudan, eritrea, migrant, migration, immigrant, immigration, calais, border regulation, police, war, united kingdom, Salam camp, VICE News, news, VICE, VICE Magazine, documentary, interviews, world news, breaking news, happening now, documentaries, interview, culture, wild, lifestyle, world, exclusive, independent, underground, videos, funny, funny videos, journalism, vice guide, vice presents, vice news, vbs.tv, vice.com, vice, vice magazine, vice mag, vice videos

Id: 4APllZaY4y4

Length: 14min 50sec (890 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 02 2014