The evictions started at 8am on Monday morning as prefecture staff swept in to the southern end of the camp under the protection of at least 100 heavily armd CRS officers. Refugees were told they had 1 hour to vacate their homes and volunteers were prevented from reaching them by the CRS. Refugees began sitting on their roofs in protest.
When I arrived one house was surrounded by prefecture staff, CRS and the demolition team with the resident on top of the roof. A little distance away, a CRS officer had some kind of gun trained on the refugee - I couldn't see it clearly from behind the CRS line but I assume it was a rubber bullet gun as it wasn't a tear gas gun. The refugee came down from his roof and the demoltion team immediately moved in.
There were two main sites of activity and I went to see what was happening at the other one - which was on the main road in the Southern sector. It was full of CRS officers, refugees, volunteers and journalists all watching events. Suddenly a shelter on the main road went up in flames. Those of us who were documenting the day's events rushed to take photos and film footage while others rushed for fire extinguishers. There was a certain amount of panic as there always is when a fire breaks out because there could be gas cylinders in the burning shelters which would explode. Someone shouted gas and the crown ranin panic but there was no explosion and it quickly gathered again. At some point amidst the general commotion, the CRS decided it would be an opportune moment to tear gas us.
At first I didn't realise what had happened and was simply running into the nearby Ashram Kitchen because eveyrone else was and all you can do is follow the crowd when it stampedes. However, once inside the back of my throat started burning and my eyes started stinging which made me weep uncontrollably. The pain was intense but I know that I had it easy because I saw the people who came in after me who had been exposed to more tear gas at closer range. Their eyes were red and puffed up and they were coughing hard.
When I left the kitchen, the fire had stopped burning but there was a commotion at the first site I had been at which was the field behind the main road. I arrived to find a large fire caused by three shelters burning.
It was eventually put out by volunteers who were running left, right and centre for buckets of water.
By the time I returned to the main road, the water canon had been brought in and was parked menacingly in the middle of it flanked by several CRS officers.
In front of the water canon was a large group of refugees and volunteers peacefully protesting its presence and the evictions. Some groups were singing and others simply holding placards. It was a stand off but most definitely a peaceful one until a small group of refugees started throwing rocks at the CRS.
At this point, community eaders and volunteers started telling them to stop because it would provoke the CRS into violence - and they do not need much provoking. And sure enough, the tear gas came out another two times that I witnessed and the water canon was also used twice while I was there. The CRS, of course, gained ground during this incident and moved the water canon further into the camp.
In the middle of all of this there was another shelter fire on the other side of the main road this time -behind the Ashram Kitchen. This was followed by 2 shelters being tumbled into the main road to create a road block against the CRS.
Shortly afterwards I left the southern sector of the camp in order to attend the evening meeting in Jungle Books - the library.
The evening meeting is open to all and is a forum used by volunteers, community leaders and refugees to discuss issues. At Monday's evening meeting, a lot of concern was expressed about the CRS's use of force and their clearance of occupied shelters. We were told in no uncertain terms that the days events had been illegal according to the judgement made by the court last week which stated that force could not be used to evict the refugees and that occupied shelters were not to be demolished.
All community leaders were in agreement that no one should throw stones at the CRS as it plays right into their hands and the refugees will always loose the battle. They each vouched for their communities promising to speak to them overnight to prevent a repeat of the days's violent clashes.
The fires were the other main topic of discussion. Before the evictions began there had been 3 fires in the camp since last week and during the evictions shelters were going up in flames one after the other yet nobody saw who had done it even though it was broad daylight. Those present were worried and suggested creating fire patrols to monitor the camp during the night although I don't think anyone volunteered as everyone was exhausted from the day and had been briefed to expect the CRS at 6am the following day.