Vigilante Groups and the Refugee Situation in Calais
Résumé
This paper is about the impact that a global situation can have on a locality: the effects of the refugee crisis on the city of Calais in France. Because of the Anglo-French border, many migrants are stuck in Calais for months or even years, waiting to be able to pass through. Undocumented and without any means of subsistence, their living conditions are very difficult.Their presence also raises intense xenophobic reactions. This article focuses on an anti-refugee vigilante group: Sauvons Calais. Linked to the radical far-right, it aims to mobilize the Calais population against the presence of migrants by organizing events, press conferences and demonstrations. Its goals are the establishment of self-defense groups against refugees, the dissolution of all NGOs who help the refugees and the expulsion of all migrants. Its activities also take the form of vigilantism: calls for self-justice, patrols, direct action…We will particularly focus on the episode of the Coulogne squat, in February 2014, occupied by activists and refugees. The group organizes the siege of the squat of migrants with the support of the local population. It lasts a fortnight. We will also dwell on the cloudy links between the group and law enforcement agencies. Studying the emergence of this type of collective is particularly interesting: given the situation in Europe, it is likely that those types of groups will start multiplying across the continent.
