-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited Observer site and thought you should see it.
To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited Observer site, go to http://www.observer.co.uk Sangatte refugees freeze on Paris streets Humanitarian 'crisis' fears as capital is swamped by asylum-seekers Paul Webster in Paris Saturday January 11 2003 The Guardian Hundreds of asylum-seekers, including families with small children, are now sleeping rough under the elegant bridges and in the doorways of Paris as the worst winter spell for years threatens to create a humanitarian 'crisis'. The sudden appearance of the refugees and illegal immigrants in the capital follows the joint British-French decision to freeze out the continuing flow of Iraqi and Afghan refugees and to close the Sangatte refugee centre, near Calais, last month. An estimated 300 illegal immigrants, many of them teenagers, are now wandering the streets of the Channel port while seeking ways to avoid strict French and British immigration controls on ferries and trains. Many others have drifted to Paris. In the city, where four homeless people died of cold last week, Iraqi Kurds and Afghans have swollen the queues seeking emergency shelter. Humanitarian organisations warned this weekend of an impending catastrophe because no provision had been made for groups of up to 50 or more pouring into France in the hope of rejoining families in Britain, which has now tightened post-Sangatte immigration. The growing numbers of the rootless - about 50,000 people from different countries have sought asylum in France in the past 12 months - has shocked aid workers in the Channel port and the capital. Paris's overnight refuges, with space for nearly 4,000 people, have been unable to cope with the demand, despite the fact that scores prefer to sleep rough and avoid the attention of any authority for fear of deportation. At the Pain de Mie reception centre in the 13th arrondissement, which has 500 places, a quarter of those seeking overnight beds were young Afghans and Kurds on their way to Calais who had temporarily abandoned hopes of reaching Kent after sleeping in the open since the demolition of Sangatte. 'The rise in demand has been spectacular since the Red Cross centre was closed,' aid worker Emmanuel Courvier said. 'About 150 Kurds and Afghans have been checking in each night and others have had to be turned away after a meal. We have no idea where they end up.' Asylum-seekers, conspicuous among the ageing down-and-outs seeking respite from the cold, said they had arrived after Sangatte's closure with hopes of entering Britain to join their families. Some were surviving on dwindling amounts of money sent from relations in Britain. Others had travelled with friends who preferred to sleep under bridges or in shop doorways, rather than risk registering in hostels and attracting attention. None of those who spoke to The Observer were among the 1,000 former Sangatte refugees who have been transferred to other centres far from the Channel ports, after the agreement with Britain that saw a limited number of the Sangatte residents being given refuge in the UK. Khaled, 25, whose parents still live in Baghdad, said he had been forced to leave Iraq a month ago after some of his family were arrested by Saddam Hussein's police. Speaking good English, he said he could not stay in France because he knew nobody. 'I may be forced to seek asylum here just to survive, even though I don't speak the language. I have an engineering degree and would be more use in Britain. Everyone I met has only one destination in mind - Britain - and they are ready to undergo any hardship to get there. If there is a war, there will be a rush of more candidates.' Other men in the queue said they believed the French, who have a harder line on refugees than the British, had no intention of giving residence permits and were determined to make life as uncomfortable as possible to discourage newcomers. They pointed out that more than 50 Kurds who had applied for temporary visas were on hunger strike in Bordeaux because their asylum applications had been rejected. The plight of the post-Sangatte generation in Paris has been overshadowed by a rush for shelter from local homeless - known as SDF (sans domicile fixe) - after the deaths of four rough sleepers. But it is causing public concern in Calais, where men, and sometimes families, sleep in public parks or makeshift shelters. Although the temperature dropped to minus 7C last week, the Communist mayor, Jackie Hénin, said he would oppose the opening of temporary refuges in case this encouraged the arrival of more asylum-seekers. Buses are sent every night to collect refugees and take them to towns far from the port. Only a score of the men who stay in the city are sure of an overnight refuge and many are sleeping in Second World War blockhouses. Charities, including the Red Cross and Caritas, have opened soup kitchens and provided emergency showers, but they fear they will soon be overwhelmed by what the Belle Etoile charity described as a 'crisis'. Olivier Brachet, who heads an asylum seekers' watchdog, said a catastrophe was probable unless at least 25,000 hostel places were found urgently for homeless foreigners. 'Families with young children are sleeping in the streets,' he said. 'There is every reason to fear serious incidents if nothing is done to help them.' Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. 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