On Saturday afternoon coachloads of European citizens arrived at the entrance to the jungle for the start of a solidarity march which was planned to walk from the camp to the main square in the town centre. The march was 2000 strong, comprised of refugees and those in solidarity with them.
The police presence was smaller than I expected but when it was there, it was there in full CRS style.
Despite the mainstream media's focus on isolatd incidents, as someone who was present for the entire march I can say that it was peaceful. I witnessed two incidents both of which were instigated by residents of Calais who reacted with aggression and violence towards the marchers.
One incident - of probably no longer than 15 minutes - occurred when a Calais resident came out of his house to shout abuse at the refugees some of whom gathered around his house. The tension escalated until bike tyres were throen at him and he fetched a rifle from his house which he brandished at them. For some media outlets this was the sole focus of their reports on the day's events.
For others it was the incident at the port during which several hundred refugees made their way into the port and boarded a docked ferry.
Again, I was there and although this did happen, it has not been reported responsibly. For a start, words such as 'swarm' and 'invasion' were used to describe the group of refugees both of which are overwhelmingly negative and conjour up connotations of an attack.
But more significantly, no-one questioned the apparent ease with which two security fences were torn down. Fences that the British and French have spent millions, if not billions, of Euros to install.
No-one asked why the Police just sat and watched the incident unfold for around 15-20 minutes subsequent to their eventual arrival at the port. Were they standing back in order to let the refugees dig their own hole?
And no one, except me and the first group of refugees that I tried to help leave the port peacefully and safely, knows that when I approcahed the police to ask how this could be achieved, we were sent deliberately into the path of a squadron of CRS riot police who immediately charged at us sending the refugees running for safety like a pack of gazelle being hunted by lions.
Make no mistake, this is a war. A war of chemical weapons, state-sponsored violence and human rights violations in which the odds are stacked heavily in favour of one side only.
Having been chased by the CRS, out of the hole in the fence through which they had entered, the refugees were aggressivey directed to walk back to the Jungle. As I accompanied them, at around 7pm we met with a further incident on the side of the main road laeading to the bridge entrance of the camp.
An unconscious refugee was lying motionless on the side of the road flanked by 2 CRS officers and 4 CRS riot vans. The CRS insisted that they had found him like that, they had no idea what had happened and that they hadn't hurt him. They said they had called an ambulance.
A group of concerned refugees was gathering on the other side of the road and I joined them. Everyone was trying to take photographs to document the incident and I stepped into the middle of the road to do so. Immediately one of the CRS officers who had been kneeling beside the unconscious refugee stormed over and told me no to take photographs. I told him that as far as I knew, it wasn't against the law to take photographs. He shouted at me 'ca me derange' - it bothers me. i pointed at the unconscious refugee and told him 'ca me derange' and continued trying to take photographs of the scene.
After at leat 30 minutes, an ambulance appeared and one eye-witness informed me that the paramedics were applying electric shock treatment to the unconsciuos refugee - so presumably he had suffered from a cardiac arrest.
Shortly afterwards, a stretcher was brought out from the abulance to move the unconscious man. The ambulance was parked directly in front of the crowd and we were all keen to see what condition the man was in. However, as the stretcher approached the ambulance the CRS line puhed towards us forcing us to stay back and shouting 'get back to the Jungle.' Many of us were trying to take photographs and the usual torch tactic was deployed to blind our cameras.
I managed to get one clear shot though.
As if the refugees hadn't been de-humanised and abused enough during the day, upon their return to the bridge they were met with a line of aggressive CRS herding them into single file in order to enter their home - the Jungle. The officers were shouting hurry up, faster faster and some were tapping their guns menacingly against their thighs.
The Jungle traffic was one way - entrance only. The camp was locked down for several hours with no one being allowed out until around 11pm.
This, people, is a typical day in the Jungle. This is how Europe, apparently the great upholder of human rights, treats refugees on its shores. I would happily renounce my European citizenship if it would bring about an end to the persecution of those fleeing wars that Europe and its allies are engaged in. This shameless hypocrysy and ruthless disregard for human life needs to stop now.