There are several organisations which, like us, work on the ground in Calais. Here at Utopia 56, our mission is to give out food and clothing but also to help people get the medical care that they need. We transport people to the hospital and also make sure that underage migrants are housed when the state-run shelters are full, which happens often. The police have always tried to hinder our activities, especially when we hand out food, clothing and blankets. The police started coming to carry out identity checks on the migrants right before these distributions to try to dissuade them from coming. Since then, the Lille tribunal has ruled in our favour and we can continue with our distributions. However, we go beyond just handing out food. On the ground, we make sure to document police interventions that can turn violent. That makes the riot police angry. They try to stop us from filming. Often, they will stop us and pat us down. Sometimes they push us to the ground.

Gaël Manzi is the president of the organisation Utopia 56. He works in Calais. Manzi says that the police try to prevent volunteers from documenting the police violence towards migrants.

Video sent by the organisation "L'Auberge des Migrants", one of the organisations that participated in the report.

Though it is legal to film the police in France, there are several videos that show police officers preventing volunteers from filming, either by ordering them to stop or by intervening with force.



Video sent by the organisation "L'Auberge des Migrants", one of the organisations that participated in the report.



In this video, volunteers ask an officer from the riot police his identification number. Police officers have been required to wear these numbers, known as a RIO, since 2014. In response, the officer says “DTC”, which, in French slang, is used to mean “up yours”.



“They're looking for trouble”

