Anger is growing among the mayors of the Channel coast. Their municipalities, in the north of France, are the first to experience the migratory phenomenon towards Great Britain. They came together as a collective and were at the congress of French mayors in Paris where they asked the State to take charge of the situation.
More than 33,500 people have crossed the Channel since the start of the year and 68 have lost their lives. Faced with the deteriorating situation, fifteen elected officials from the northern coast have organized themselves into a collective to denounce the abandonment of the State, but also to make proposals to it.
These mayors describe an increasingly difficult situation: bodies regularly discovered on their beaches, illegal encampments, damage, growing discontent among the population and the feeling of being alone in the face of the challenge.
A coastal prefect requested
Natacha Bouchart, mayor of Calais, the most affected municipality, believes she must respond on a daily basis to a situation which is nevertheless the responsibility of the State. “ Today, we have this impression of habit taking hold at the government level. “All things considered, things aren’t going that bad in Calais.” But the government does not see behind the changing problems, the mafia system which is taking hold with the smugglers. People are absolutely fed up and want to move on “, she says on RFI’s microphone.
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