Reported on 23.04.2026
A testimony collected from a resident of a living site in Grande-Synthe. He recounts his daily experiences of evictions, theft of personal belongings and police harassment. The testimony was collected in English. Switch to the English version of the website for a more accurate translation of the testimony.
Témoignage récolté auprès d’un habitant d’un lieu de vie à Grande-synthe. Il raconte son expérience des expulsions, les vols d’affaires et le harcèlement policier subis quotidiennement. Ce témoignage a été recueilli en anglais. Activer la version anglaise du site pour une retransciption plus précise du témoignage.
“First of all, (…) you know how difficult it is to live in the Jungle. At some point, you don’t have many blankets, you don’t have anything, any money to get all these things. All of a sudden, the police come to destroy everything you have.”
“After (…) they come with some of these people with orange clothes. They destroy everything; boil, all the tents, break all the pallets. Then, they somehow take these things. I was having some clothes. I lost some clothes, some new shoes. And then, they will tell you there is a bus that will take people to the hotel. If you can go in the bus, they will take you to the hotel. I don’t want to go to a hotel. I said no. Many people said no.”
(…) “I lost at least two pairs of shoes. These are very very new shoes. I bought them for 49 euros and these shoes are gone and some other also very important clothes like baggy jeans and some other t-shirts. All this thing the police take, it’s all gone and many other people complain a lot, people lose many things.”
“Yesterday, they went to the market area and some other areas and just demolished everything, destroyed everything. Somehow took it away. And this other organization, the Afeji, that is taking people for showers, they take you to go somewhere five minutes from the jungle for you to go and take a shower. They’re the same organization helping the police so for me I’m a little bit surprised what they are doing in the jungle. If they are the same people helping the police, why are they also helping migrants? I really don’t understand. They try to say to people that they can have a condition or stuff but it’s a very strange organization. I feel like people don’t feel safe with Afeji to be honest. It’s ok if they want to work with the state, but I think they should not offer help to migrants. This is not help. Somehow, this is not help.”
Do the police take videos and pictures?
“Every time they go to the jungle, they take pictures and videos. Every time the police come, they do this.”
(…) “I saw nearly four evictions because first of all I was in Calais when they did this, destroying so many other places. And then I think somehow some other people were detained. So, when I moved from Calais to the jungle in Grande Synthe, I stayed like a couple of weeks. First, they destroyed somewhere very close to the point where they give this food, cafe, everything inside the jungle. They destroyed this. And then the other time again, they destroyed somewhere else.
“First of all, many many police cars come and then afterwards, this organization also comes with them and they just start pulling everything destroying, everything. But if somebody is sleeping inside a tent, I think they’ll tell you to go outside and then they have knives and stuff and things that they used to destroy. Luckily, my own zone was somehow they did not reach there, but once I was a victim of them.”
Do you sometimes see the border police during the eviction?
(…) “There are many police. I don’t know. I don’t know which is which. I don’t know. Many police cars are coming. Police are everywhere. I don’t know what special police. I cannot read French.”
When the police come into the Jungle and the cleaning team takes everything away, is it possible to ask the police to keep your clothes or tent, or do they always refuse?
“You cannot even talk to them. If you speak, they don’t even respond. Maybe they don’t want to talk or they don’t understand English. I don’t know. When they took my stuff, I was running away. I was going very far from them. Because I think they, during the other eviction, not yesterday, like a couple of weeks ago, before you sent me a message that there would be an eviction and stuff, they detained some people. Like they catch two people the police catch two people, go with them. I don’t know if they release them or not. (…) But I don’t see people talking to the police. People are trying to go far away from them.” (…) I forgot the exact date.”
“Sometimes when there is no eviction, maybe 10 or 15 police officers will just come, walk inside the jungle, look at everything, take photos, and go back. This also happened a couple of weeks ago. They came once. They just walked inside. I was sleeping. I just heard of the emergency. I heard “Bonjour, bonjour”. People started shouting: “police, police” And when I woke up, there were already 15 police officers right in front of me. One had a phone and took photos everywhere. I think someone else was making videos”.
Have you ever seen the police cut or destroy tents?
“Yes, they destroyed [tents] with guns and some other materials. I was very far, not very close. I have to go for my own safety. I don’t want to be detained or something.”
Is there anything else you would like to tell us?
“For me, this is what I have seen for now because there are other people that stay here many months. They have more experience and also, they face more things than my own experience. My things, I buy them. They are very expensive. If I could get my stuff back, I’d be very happy because each jean is 40 euros. This is too much and very sad. And all my shoes, again, are like 49.99. And my t-shirts, at least each, is 20 euros, 24 euros, 26 euro and then my watch again they took my watch is it gone, this is a lot, small bag i have a small bag like this banana bags that one also is 18 euro that.”
“I think everybody is really sad and desperate here. Nobody’s happy in this jungle. Life is not okay here yeah yeah for sure. People are very desperate and probably going through a lot. And then, when the police come to destroy everything, to put more panic and fear on people. Let’s say if there were a proper asylum system or people have places to stay or have, let’s say, good integration in France, nobody will come to you. But nobody is trying to provide a solution. France already gave so many people I know papers to leave the country. So where do you want these people to stay if the government tells them they should leave the country where they should stay ?”
(Témoignage partagé en anglais)