"All of a sudden, the police come to destroy everything you have"
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)
Quand sortir acheter du pain conduit à une arrestation : harcèlement policier à Calais
Reported on 03.12.2025
Le 18 novembre 2025, en fin de journée, vers 18h, A.W se rend au magasin proche de son lieu de vie pour acheter du pain. Il s’y rend seul car les autres membres de son groupe craignent la police qui se poste très souvent à cet endroit-là. Dès qu’il entre dans le champ de vision des agents de police, ces derniers se dirigent instantanément vers lui. Ils sont 5 agents avec un fourgon noir banalisé. Il s’agit probablement de la Police aux frontières. Ils lui ont demandé ses papiers, il n’en avait pas. Il subit une palpation corporelle. Il est embarqué dans le véhicule, sans explications. Il est transporté pendant une quarantaine de minutes sans qu’on lui explique où il va et pourquoi. On lui prend directement son téléphone, il ne peut prévenir personne, ses proches passent la nuit à s’inquiéter. Là-bas, il est dans une petite pièce avec des WC, l’odeur est extrêmement désagréable, ce n’est pas propre. Impossible de dormir. On lui a donné une petite couverture. On lui donne de l’eau mais pas de nourriture (contrairement à ce qui est indiqué dans le PV). De même, il n’a pas eu l’opportunité d’appeler qui que ce soit (contrairement à ce qu’indique le PV). Un homme d’Utopia est appelé pour faire la traduction dans sa langue, mais il a du mal à comprendre son tigrinya. Un agent de police parlait anglais. Cela a d’abord lieu par téléphone puis en personne le lendemain matin.
Les agents sont heureux d’avoir arrêté quelqu’un, se congratulent, rient. Ils se moquent quand ils passent devant lui. Un s’énerve quand il parle à A.W, hausse le ton, tape du poing sur la table comme si A.W était un criminel ou qu’il se faisait gronder par son père. Ils ne lui laissent pas la chance de dire quoi que ce soit. Pas de violence physique. Mais l’agent qui criait l’a insulté, lui a demandé si A.W répondrait de la même façon à la police s’il était en Erythrée.
A.W a été placé en rétention de 19h05 le 18 novembre jusqu’à 11h05 le lendemain. Il a dit qu’il n’avait pas besoin de docteur. Les agents lui ont remis un procès-verbal à signer, sans lui expliquer ce qu’était ce document, et ce qu’il impliquait. Ce procès-verbal était assorti d’une obligation de quitter le territoire français (OQTF), mais encore une fois, personne n’a expliqué à A.W ce que cela impliquait. À la fin de sa rétention, un agent lui a dit qu’avec ce PV il pouvait circuler pendant 1 mois, que si la police l’arrêtait à nouveau il pouvait leur montrer.
« Je suis d’accord d’être arrêté si j’ai tapé quelqu’un, si j’ai volé. C’est normal d’assumer les conséquences de ses actions. Mais je ne suis pas un criminel. Pourquoi je serais ici si tout allait bien dans mon pays. Chez moi il y a du respect alors que c’est une dictature. C’est difficile ici. Tout le monde a un rêve. »
Son cas n’est pas isolé. La semaine dernière, 5 personnes de son lieu de vie ont été arrêtées par des agents qui sont venus directement sur le campement là où sont les tentes vers 8h du soir. Ils arrêtent aussi des femmes.
(Témoignage partagé en français)
Two ribs fractured by the police
Reported on 29.07.2025
"I am in Calais with my two children. On the night of July 27 to 28, 2025, around 3 a.m., I was returning to Calais with a group of about 70 people. We were walking along a small road on the outskirts of Calais, pushing the stroller of my young daughter and accompanied by my 5-year-old son. Around 3:20 a.m., we were stopped by two police cars blocking the road. There was a grey Peugeot police car with four officers parked on the right side of the road we came from, at an intersection, and an unmarked grey car with two officers on our path. These two officers were dressed in dark clothes, wearing short-sleeved polo/t-shirts and an armband on the arm.
While we were walking calmly, tired, the six officers who got out of their cars forbade us from continuing towards Calais. The body cameras on the police were green. Even though we explained that we wanted to go to Calais and not return to the beach, they threatened to spray us with tear gas if we did not turn back.
At that moment, I was at the front of the group with the stroller. I asked them why they were threatening us, telling them I was with my children, showing them the stroller and making gestures with my hands. One of the police officers then stepped forward and kicked me violently on the left ribs, causing me to fall to the ground. Someone in the group who speaks French told me that when the other officers saw their colleague hit me, they asked him why he did that.
My children began to cry. Still on the ground, I tried to take out my phone to photograph the license plate of the police car, and at that moment, the officer who hit me came back, snatched the phone from my hands, and threw it far into the trees before leaving.
As the police left, the rest of the group tried to take photos of the police but failed. When I managed to get up, I searched with the group for my phone for about 20 minutes, and we finally found it. The screen was cracked. At that point, I wrote to the Utopia56 night patrol asking them to call an ambulance because I was in great pain. I shared my location with them. An ambulance was sent, but I had already moved when it arrived.
Most of the group continued to Calais. I stayed with about ten mostly who helped me walk and bring the stroller and my children to Calais. I had severe pain in my ribs and back and had difficulty breathing. About ten minutes after we resumed walking toward Calais, the unmarked police car with the man who hit me driving returned and followed us from a distance throughout our walk back.
We reached Calais, near the informal living area where I live. Here, I saw that the police officer who hit me was still in the unmarked car, continuing to watch me from afar. The women went down to the living area, and I fell because of the pain. I then asked Utopia56, with whom I was in contact the whole time via Google Translate, for help to call an ambulance because I was suffering greatly.
I was taken to the hospital where I was told that the blow from the police officer had fractured two ribs."
(Testimony shared in Arabic and mediated by a translator)
Police violence in Calais
Reported on 14.05.2025
“They are a big group staying here in the jungle in Calais City. The problem is that the police came, but they didn’t wear police uniforms. They didn’t answer to them or speak with them. After that a police bus came, a black one. They just started to hit everyone, also people sleeping in the tents. The police used pepper spray. It was dark at night.”
“They gassed and sprayed the tent, pillow, mattress, sleeping bags. After that no one could touch it, they were to allergic, nobody can use it. He says, after that we can’t use anything. It’s like feeling scratching or burning.”
“They were asleep, but not all the group was asleep. Someone woke up and saw that the police was coming, He shouted “Hey! Police is coming, wake up!” But you know, when you just woke up you can’t do anything fast. But someone had a fast reaction, ran away. But someone was asleep. Because not all of them sleep together. The police started hitting all of them while they were sleeping. They opened their eyes from being hit by the police.”
“But the one who woke up and went, someone started to hit him for there. With the black thing from the police and spray in the eyes.”
“After they hit them, they said: “You should look for another place, you can’t stay in this place.”
“There is another one in the group, he’s sick, police hit him too much, he can’t walk. He tried to call an ambulance. The ambulance came, but they said to him that he didn’t have papers. He is from Africa. But they took him to the hospital. In the emergency ward nobody helped him, they just left him like that for a long time. He was worried and contacted a friend. He went back, because nobody helped him. Now he’s sick and staying tired in the jungle.
(Testimony shared in Arabic and mediated by a translator)
Police destruction of phones
Reported on 14.05.2025
Testimony shared by 2 young Sudanese men living in Calais. They are in the habit of charging their phones on a construction site across facing their camp, with the consent of the manager.
“They left the phones there. They have a good relationship with the manager who agreed to put their phone on charge. They went to the Jungle to have some food and tea. The police came to the jungle, did a checkpoint and everything. The police went to the company [the place where the phones were charging], entered the company, broke all the phones and left.”
“They were two. One male, one female. They had a police car, uniforms, a camera and everything. It was written ‘police’ on the car.
“They saw them breaking the phones and were trying to stop them, and the police tear-gassed them.”
(Testimony shared in Arabic and meditated by a translator)
Detention after an eviction
Reported in May 2025
“We were sleeping and at 6 in the morning, the police arrived with two translators, one from Morocco and the other from Yemen. However, they spoke English with us, not Arabic. They said: “get out of your tents, take nothing with you, we just want to talk.” The first time, they said it a bit kindly. But there were many of use in this camp, too many tents in the jungle. We came out of our tents. He didn’t let me take my pillow, my mattress, my sleeping bag, or my tent.
I spoke with my group. I told them “don’t resist the police, don’t do anything. If they want to take us to the police station, we are in a European country, we can’t say no. That’s normal.”
A policeman told us “if you don’t listen or if you don’t go with the police, we can do this another way. Now we are being nice, but we can use force. We are in France, so you must respect the French police.””
“There were more than 12 black buses, police vans. He told me “okay, we are going to take you to the police station, whether you want or not, you all have to come.” He took me. I tried to stay in contact with the English Red Cross, the French Red Cross, and Human Rights Observers. I sent my location and short videos. But a police officer saw me and said “I will break your phone if I see you do that one more time.” I couldn’t see his face. I stopped using the phone.”
“When we arrived to the police station, they searched us, they took our phones. I had to hand over my medication. I said “I have asthma and a severe allergy. I take my medication four times a day.” I also have a medication called PrEP. It’s a pill for homosexuals. We use it everyday against HIV. I do not have HIV; I use it for safety. A police officer asked me “why are you using this? Are you sick?” I replied “no, I am not sick, I am gay. That’s why I use it.”
But everyone around was listening, it was a big problem for me. Now I cannot return to my camp, too many people are talking about it. We come from Arab countries. It’s a different culture, no one understands homosexuality there. Also, they could share it in my country or with my family. I would lose my entire family if they did that.
A police man told me “you can’t take your medication with you. Leave it here. If you need it, call us and we will come give it to you.”
They gave me a translator on the phone. She asked for my date of birth and my nationality. Then a police man gave me more papers, there were more than 12 documents. I asked what these were for. The police officer said “sign, sign!”. I replied that I won’t sign if I don’t know. He told me “alright, then you will stay here longer, maybe a month. Maybe we will see with Dublin, maybe we will send you back to Germany or another country. We can do that if you want.” I signed, but I didn’t know what I signed. Then, they put me in a small room; there were four of us. I asked the police for water, and they told me that the water was automatically provided by a machine, but it wasn’t working.
We asked for water again. One police officer told us “by the way, tomorrow afternoon you can go out. I asked him “but why not now?” He replied, “you can’t ask me that question. Listen to me, if you want to go out. If you want to stay here longer, we will let you go last.””
“I didn’t ask anything else. at 2PM we were all given food and a cup of water. After half an hour, two people arrived without police uniforms. They said: “you are all going to unlock your phones!” One police man asked “what is your phone?” I showed them my phone. But I told him: “This is private information, only for me. My documents are with you; if you want you can see my name and everything else.” I couldn’t express myself and explain about my private data because I was with someone from my camp and my country. The police man said to me “I’m not interested; you need to unlock your phone now.” I gave him the pin code and showed him how to unlock the phone. Then he went into another room for about half an hour.
After that, he came back and brought me in. Other policemen laughed at me. The policemen (about 6 people) all started to laugh, after they saw what my phone was. I have gay apps on it. I also have photos of my boyfriend and another friend, some of which are naked.
The policemen asked me “Why did you come to Europe?” I replied, “I think you all know it by now,, You laugh or smile because you know that I am gay. Your system or you rules in France support all LGBTQ people. That’s why I came. And my information, with whom do you share it?” A police officer replied to me “that’s none of you business, you should leave now. It’s better for you.”
I left, I can’t go back to the jungle because now more people there know that I am gay. This will create more and more problems with them.
After two days, my boyfriend told me that he found a message in our shared email account, saying that someone unknown had entered our account. I also received this message “Are you […]? Someone is trying to access your email.” I think the police shared my information This email arrived after I left the police station. At the police station, I simply unlocked my phone and gave them my pin code. My password for my email account is secret. I did not give it to the police, I don’t know how they could have accessed it.
Early morning eviction in Calais
Reported on 25.06.2025
Testimony shared by an Eritrean man living in Calais, whose belongings were seized by the police during an early morning operation, at 6:30AM, in June 2025.
“The police came. They were scared and tried to run away, and they left everything in this place. His tent and everything. Other people were in the same situation. They were scared from the police, so they tried to run away, and the police took everything. Like tents, and things like that. And even the telephone inside the tent.”
“When the police came, he tried to run away, because they were going to catch him. As the situation in Libya, when he saw the police, he tries to run away directly and doesn’t focus on the tents.”
Personal belongings seized during police raids can, in theory, be recovered at the “Ressourcerie,” a facility tasked with sorting, recycling, and selling second-hand items in Calais.
“He goes there 3 or 4 times to check since the date. He tried many times.”
“Sometimes they say “no, there is no telephone here”, sometimes they bring 3 or 4 telephones, but there is not his telephone.”
(Testimony shared in Tigrinya and mediated by a translator)
Violences lors d'une tentative de traversée
Rapporté en mars 2025
Témoignage relaté par une personne habitant à Calais, suite à des violences policières subies sur une plage du littoral nord. Les faits datent du 9 mars 2025, aux alentours de 16:30, alors qu’un groupe d’une cinquantaines de personnes tente la traversée vers l’Angleterre. Ce groupe incluait des familles, des femmes, et des enfants.
“Il y avait une tentative de traverser pour aller en Angleterre. A ce moment là, il portait avec d’autres personnes un bateau gonflable. Un drone et un hélicoptère ont commencé à tirer des balles lacrymogènes. Il à été touché. Il me dit que c’était des bombes lacrymogènes.”
“Les tirs, ca venait des policiers qui étaient derrière eux, à environ 100, 150 mètres. Ils avaient une sorte de fusil”
La personne à été touché à l’épaule gauche par un tir lacrymogène.
“Il dit qu’il avait une veste qui à été brulée, et il y en a une [balle] qui à touché le bateau gonflable et une qui a touché la réserve d’essence. Ca à touché et créé beaucoup de fumée noire. Il a failli brûler, donc ils ont tous fui. Il dit que ça pouvait être une situation catastrophique.”
“Ils ont porté le bateau et l’hélicoptère et le drone sont apparus. Les tirs ont commencé même pas deux minutes après l’apparition du drone”
La personne précise avoir entendu plus de 10 tirs de grenade lacrymogènes.
(Témoignage relaté en Arabe, avec la médiation d’un traducteur)
Personne exilée vivant à Calais
Rapporté le 12.02.2025
“[La police] nous parle avec aucun respect, même pas un minimum de respect. Ils pourraient nous demander de sortir des tentes, nous parler, au lieu de ça ils nous crient dessus et nous sortent des tentes la nuit. Moi j’ai du respect pour la police, et eux, ils n’en ont aucun, je ne comprends pas. J’ai essayé de leur parler, ils m’ont dit de me taire.
“Vous, vous avez des papiers d’identité. Moi aussi j’ai des papiers d’identité, mais les miens ils ne suffisent pas, je ne comprends pas.”
(Témoignage relaté en Anglais)
We feel fear, always fear, fear
Reported on 29.01.2024
Testimony shared by a Punjabi man living in Calais for a few months, trying to cross the English Channel to visit a family member.
“When we go to the police they won’t help us. They just give us jail when we go to the supermarket to purchase anything, they give us the jails. Like 24 hours or 48 hours, they don’t want to listen to us.”
“The first time the police came into the camp, it was fear. We got into jail. It was like the fear of the first person, fear of the child to hold the fire, he doesn’t know what is fire.”
“The second time it was casual. They will get you in jail, maybe one day we will be out. The third and fourth time it was casual, it is now like the daily soap we have to apply to our body. It is like the daily thing.”
“24/7 we have the stress of the mind, like some person will come, they will stab on the chest, like we will die one day over here, sleeping in the tent”
“Maybe they think that we will stab someone. Really, we stab someone? They are stabbing us. They are stabbing us in our minds. Not in the chest, they are stabbing us in our minds. One day we will be killed. Our mind is being killed, Everyday, a new problem, a new situation.”
“Because of this we feel fear, always fear, fear.”
“My friends were going over there [to the water tank] and were attacked by five to six people, two people being attacked by six people. He was carrying to cans, one for my friend and his. He was carrying two cans and six people came over. He had to throw the cans and run for his life, otherwise they would stab him.”
“Recently one of the people mixed something in the water. Maybe to kill us. We have to call the Calais water service [referring to Calais Food Collective], to ask they to please change the water. It was a French person I don’t know. He was white. He peed on the water tank and mixed something in the water."