Grande-Synthe: new “full” camp, 1,500 migrants present – Liberation

The new refugee camp in Grande-Synthe (Nord), close to Dunkirk and welcomes 1,500 migrants, mostly Kurds, is “complete”, said Monday the mayor ecologist Damien Lent.

“We’re full, we can not accommodate more. We did our part, as the hummingbird, “said the EELV mayor of this town of over 20,000 inhabitants in reference to the story of the little hummingbird that extinguishes the fire of a drop of water.

“We can not have a camp of 1,500 on forever and it is not infinitely expandable. We need to say stop + + “has he added during a press conference.

Grande-Synthe, former fishing port in the North Sea that had been completely transformed by the introduction of the Usinor steel plant in the 1960s, allowed for a little less than a year of migrants in particularly unsanitary camp Basroch. Last week, the municipality has the move to a new camp, located about thirty minutes from downtown, called the Linière.

This new camp consists of wooden huts, was built by Doctors without Borders (MSF), without the approval of the state.

“We can not accommodate more refugees than our reception capacity” in order “to ensure good reception conditions,” he said. Similarly, houses are dismantled an “as and when”, with the departures of migrants (for one of the 112 centers of welcome and orientation, passages in England …).

Asked about the camp’s location, environmentalist mayor acknowledged that the land was not “ideal”, because of the proximity of the railroad tracks and the highway linking Dunkirk to Calais. “But it was the land best suited to the emergency,” said the one.

“I think it will repeat this type of camp everywhere else. We wanted somewhere to lead by example, “said Mr. Lent, noting that he had received messages of congratulations from all political persuasions – apart from the extreme right – to direct the first municipality in France to build such type camp to international standards since the beginning of the migration crisis.

the mayor also said he had “need of the State” to ensure the operation of the camp amounted to three million euros per year. The municipality has planned to launch an online platform to collect donations to ensure proper management of the Linière camp.

AFP