Calais Day 5

So today was a big day.... A large church group from the UK were due to arrive at 11am with a big convoy of trucks containing donations and volunteers. They came with a 7 ton truck, four white vans, 60 volunteers, more than 400 food parcels and donations of clothing.

We split into 2 groups both composed of a mixture of them and the Care4Calais volunteers. One group was to stay in the warehouse sorting and the other group was to be on distributions. The distributions group was then divided into two and we all distributed food parcels throughout the day. Both groups did two distributions in the morning and one in the afternoon making six in total which is three times the normal level of distribution. The team I was in was assigned the roughter areas of the camp but everything ran really smoothly in spite of this. Distributions of identical items like food parcels are quick but today was lightning speed! Our mormon friends were certainly an efficient team that were happy to pitch in and work hard.

Here I am driving the van to one of the distribution sites in the camp:

After the morning distributions we went back to the warehouse to reload the white vans with food parcels for the afternoon run which we did at the main entrance to the camp which is under a motorway bridge that has a 12 foot razor wire fence along its edges and a constant CRS presence. This afternoon we were being watched by two CRS officers who were stationed on the bridge. They can't stop us from distributing the aid but if they caugt us for traffic violations, for instance, they could use that against us to attempt to shut us down.

Later in the day, there was a tip-off that the police are planning a camp clearance on Monday with the intention of 'clearing' 20% of the camp. This means bulldozing it which will clearly destroy people's homes and in the section they are targeting it will also destroy several businesses like shops and restaurants. I asked whether a human shield would be an effective form of resistance and was told that the last time this tactic was employed in the face of camp 'clearances' the bulldozers came out and threatened to bulldoze the human shield. It seems that what we will need is the world's press to be present. I certainly intend to be there to document events as do many of my colleagues.

Saying thst, th clearances have not been confirmed but if and when they are anyone that can come will be needed.

That's it for today.