A legal centre in the makeshift camp for refugees and migrants in Calais has burned down, in what the head of the Lille lawyers’ association called a “criminal” act.



The centre, in a wooden structure built this year, served as a base for lawyers acting on a voluntary basis to provide assistance to rough sleepers in the camp, sometimes described as the “Jungle”.

The legal advice ranged from information on asylum laws, to what to do if arrested – such as informing people they had the right to an interpreter. A large part of the work by lawyers there was to prepare cases and paperwork for unaccompanied teenagers in the camp.

Lawyers also helped file legal complaints over violence against refugees, some of those complaints against French police.

The prefecture of Calais said a fire “of indeterminate origins” had destroyed the legal office at about 6pm on Thursday evening.



Vincent Potié, the head of the Lille lawyers’ bar, suggested a possible arson attack. He told Agence France-Presse: “We have a witness who saw a man approach, throw something and run off.”

Potié said he would write to court authorities in Douai to ask them to open an investigation immediately. He called the fire a “horror”.

“This deprives people who have fled war and dictatorship a minimum access to legal rights,” he said. “This act must be denounced and pursued.”

About 3,500 people, mostly from Afghanistan, Syria and east African countries, have been sleeping rough in squalid conditions in what began as a state-sanctioned shanty town in Calais. This month, parts of the southern area of the camp were dismantled by the local authorities.