More than 190 hectares of coastal vegetation were destroyed by fire over the weekend in a region just south of the Channel port of Boulogne. Investigators have said some of the many migrants camped on this stretch of the Northern French coast as they wait to cross to England in a small boat could be to blame.
Migrants are told that once they set foot in England the chances of them being deported are infinitesimal
The Pas-de-Calais prefecture has said that two lines of enquiry are being pursued: that the fires were a result of ‘the usual way of life’ of the migrants or a consequence of a ‘gendarmerie operation’.
A local newspaper, La Voix du Nord, described a confrontation last Wednesday between a group of migrants and some gendarmes, during which one of the latter fired a tear gas grenade. ‘When gendarmes are attacked, they have the right to defend themselves, so they will continue to do so,’ said a spokesperson for the prefecture. However, the authorities have also received reports of ‘deliberate arson attacks, aimed at destabilising the emergency services’.
In other words, some migrants may be starting fires among the parched vegetation to distract the gendarmes who patrol the coast on the lookout for people smugglers at work.
