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."

Arrestation violente à Calais

Rapporté le 27.10.2024

“La police est venue dans notre camp aujourd’hui, et a arrêté mon ami. Ils ont volé les tentes et leur contenu. Mon ami ne leur a rien dit. Ils l’ont battu, l’ont jeté à terre, lui ont attaché les mains et l’ont emmené.”

Eviction at the Unicorn living space

Reported on 04.06.2021

Testimony shared by Sudanese exiles living in Calais

A 14-year-old minor was gassed by police during Friday's eviction. The police said "this is France, this is not an Arab country". The police forced him out of his tent, they pushed him. He was brought to Marseille.

Law enforcement officials prevented him from retrieving his personal belongings. He saw a person being pushed and then beaten by the police. Others were gassed, beaten, then slashed and gassed his tent while the person was still inside. He was brought to Marseille. Law enforcement officials seized the tent, not letting him get his things back after he twice asked to be able to get his things back.

One person wanted to locate his medication, but the police prevented him. The police said "you have two minutes to get out".

One person was woken up by the police with a kick on a tent, he said he wanted to stay here. The police beat him with batons, grabbed him by the collar of his T-shirt and dragged him to the bus by force.

Another person was patted down by the police, the police took € 2,000 from his pockets. They wouldn't let him take back his personal belongings. He lost everything because of the eviction. He was taken far, to Nice.

The people returned to Calais two or three days later. They took the train, they were checked several times. They must have taken several trains.

Displaced person living in Grande-Synthe

Reported on 02.06.2021

I live in the informal living space behind the Jesuit farm in Grande-Synthe.

On the night of May 31 to June 1, 2021, I left my home with thirteen other people in a car to try to get to England. We planned to hit the beach to try to cross the Channel. We left around midnight. After driving, our car broke down. When this happened we were at this location:

A white car stopped, and I saw 3 policemen get out of the car. I opened the door and as I got out of the car one of the officers hit me. I didn't have time to talk to him. He did not say anything to me. He immediately hit me with his pistol in my right ear. I fell to the ground and my ear started to bleed. I remember there were three policemen in blue uniforms. The policeman who hit me was tall and white in colour.

The police then called for backup. More policemen arrived, I can't remember exactly how many there were. The police told us to remain seated, without moving. No policeman notified the emergency room when I was badly injured. We sat there for about 30/40 minutes. The other people who were with me in the car were not physically injured, I was the only one who was hit by the policeman.

The police then left with the other inhabitants of the place of life in Grande-Synthe and brought them back. I stayed with my friend. I called the Utopia association. They came to get me and they took me to the Dunkirk hospital center. We arrived at the emergency room at 2:33 am. At the hospital, the medical staff cleaned my wound, then the Utopia team brought me back to the Grande-Synthe jungle. I didn't want to stay in the hospital because I didn't feel comfortable.

I returned to the hospital the next day, June 1st at 1:10 pm. A doctor treated me.

This policeman hit me for no reason, I would like my rights to be recognised because what he did to me is truly inhuman.

Displaced person living in Grande-Synthe

Reported on 13.11.2020

“It's not right, but they don't listen. They say they have this court document, I don't know what it means. They cut down all the tents and they take us away... and some policemen say racist things, they do bad things with us. At the moment, they're sending us to the hotel, but I don't like the hotel.”

Displaced person living in Calais

Reported on 11.11.2020

“We are in a dangerous situation. But we are not dangerous.”

Displaced person living in Calais

Reported on 11.11.2020

“The police don't want to leave us alone in the jungle. If they won't let us into the jungle, where can we go? We are refugees. The police don't respect refugees. We are humans, not animals. They think we are animals because we are refugees. We respect everyone because our parents taught us respect.”

Displaced person living in Calais

Reported on 11.11.2020

“A week ago, my friends and I were next to the playground around 8am, the police came and told us to leave and never come back. Because of this, we had trouble sleeping, we couldn't find a safe and quiet place to sleep.”

(translated from Arabic)

Afghan man living in Calais

Reported on 11.11.2020

“I am from Afghanistan and have been living in the jungle in Calais for six months. People's behaviour towards refugees in France is positive and I am grateful to them, but I have a problem with the police. The French police have aggressive behaviour. In winter, it is cold, but they continue to harass and evict people. What we expect from the government is to put an end to this police behaviour so that people can have peace.”

We thought if we came here we’d be safe

Reported on 11.11.2020

“I am Chadian. I have been given permission to say what I want to say regarding the situation here, people like us.

I am an asylum seeker because there is a situation that made me leave my home. We arrived here in France, but we were not allowed to live here in France, so everything is complicated; you sleep in the street. We lack a lot of things but we have no choice.

They informed us that we have to leave the territory, otherwise we are sent home. if we hadn't had a problem, we wouldn't be here. If we came here - we asked the government for help - it's because we really need help. That's why we're here. If you want to send us home, that is to say, you who want to kill us. It's not our government, not our family, because we ran away from death.

We came here... We thought if we came here we'd be safe, but it’s actually quite the opposite. So if there is something that you can help us with - all we ask for is help. We live as human beings too: we need freedom and to live as everyone else.”

Tear gas used in Calais

Reported on 20.09.2020

“On several occasions during the last few weeks, riot policemen were taking a small isolated road next to the place where people in displacement were living; they sprayed tear gas on people who were walking, through the window of their vehicle without explanation or provocation.”

We can’t find peace in Europe

Reported on 31.08.2020

“We’re in Europe, facing a difficult life. All of this, to live in dignity. But we can find peace in Europe. We risk our lives to reach Europe, because our country is under conflict and war. We couldn't find peace in our country as well, that is why we emigrated to Europe.

"We thought: maybe could we find peace in Europe? But we didn’t see any of this! We’re facing the biggest war in Europe, racism, fascism, our country is at war, and Europe is at fascist war. We’ve never thought that one day we’d arrive in Europe and face that situation. We are immigrants, we live in France, in Calais region, France didn’t accept us, that is why we try to get into England. All of this for a better future. I wish and hope you can help me in this situation.”

Police chase in Grande-Synthe

Reported on 30.07.2020

“On the night of July 30, I was chased by the police with several friends along a road. While running away, I fell on a fence that seriously injured my face (several stitches). Out of fear, I stayed hidden in the ditch for a long time. I saw one of my friends being caught and taken away by the police.”

Police violence against two people living in Grande Synthe

Reported on: 19.07.2020

“[On 11 July at 2am] My friend and I were brutalised by the police. I had a broken tooth. They also unleashed their dogs, whom attacked us without a muzzle.”

Destruction of tents in Grande-Synthe

Reported on 19.07.2020

“[On 16 July] four policemen came back to see us, they destroyed our tent. They were carrying a document, but we couldn’t understand why they did that.”

Police violence in Grande-Synthe

Reported on 19.07.2020

“[On 16 July] four officers of the national police came to wake us up kicking our tents, ridiculing us and calling us children.”

(Translated from Persian)

Arrest in Calais

Reported on 01.07.2020

Were you in the jungle this morning ?

“Yes, I was in the jungle [this morning] and the police arrested me for no reason and I am heartbroken, [...] I feel bad for this situation because we live in the jungle, we live in dirty places but sometimes the police bother us for no reason so I am very hurt by this bad thing.”

When they arrested you, did they explain why did they arrest you ?

“They didn't tell me why, but they told us "you have no documents". A lot of people in the jungle don't have documents, that's why we were arrested today for no reason. A lot of people are undocumented in the jungle, and a lot of people are homeless, a lot of people are unemployed, but we have to go to the UK, so sometimes that's what happens: the police bother us ... it's a very, very bad thing for us, you know? So I feel bad. We need rights for refugees and [migrants] from Calais.”