a tribute paid to the Indian migrant who died trying to cross the Channel

An investigation was opened under the authority of the Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor's office after the death of a migrant who tried to cross the Channel this Sunday, October 27. No police custody was in progress early Monday evening.

Around 120 people gathered this Monday, October 28 in Calais (Pas-de-Calais) in tribute to the Indian migrant who died on Sunday during an attempt to cross the Channel, “which has become a cemetery” while “the rulers look elsewhere” , denounced a participant.

“These deaths are not accidents but political mistakes,” accused Flore Judet, coordinator of the L’Auberge des migrants association, during the ceremony.

“La Manche has become a cemetery and those in power are looking elsewhere,” denounced Axel Gaudinat, coordinator of the Utopia 56 association in Calais. “Each time, the reaction of States is to add law enforcement, police resources, barbed wire, cameras, and that does not work.”

“People just want to live in peace somewhere and they are not going to give up 30 kilometers from the only possibility they have of living in peace in Europe,” he stressed, referring to the proximity of the English coast. , visible on a clear day from the Calais coast.

At least 56 dead this year

After at least 56 deaths since the start of the year, a record number, the long scroll spread on the ground during these tributes, listing the names of the hundreds of people who have died on the Franco-British border since 1999, has become too short. It must have been supplemented since September with several loose sheets.

Following Sunday's sinking, an investigation was opened under the authority of the Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor's office but no police custody was in progress early Monday evening. According to the Pas-de-Calais prefecture on Sunday, the boat, in very poor condition, “deflated immediately after its departure” from Tardinghen beach at dawn. The dead man is an Indian around 40 years old, according to the same source.

Four days earlier, on Wednesday, three migrants, a woman and two men, died when their canoe capsized two kilometers off the French coast, near Calais.

The Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor's office, also responsible for investigating this tragedy, reported on Monday a “question” which persists, due to a discrepancy between the number of people rescued and certain testimonies describing the presence many people on board the boat.

Thanks to a favorable weather window, more than 1,600 people crossed the Channel aboard small boats between Tuesday and Sunday.