Behold!
France has figured out what to do with all of the empty shipping containers the world no longer needs now that global trade has ground to a halt.
That’s the “new and improved” refugee camp in Calais where authorities are, to quote Reuters, seeking “to bring some order to the so-called ‘jungle’ camp in sand dunes near the port.”
As you can see from the above, the encampment was previously made up of shoddy tents and the conditions are deplorable. Variously described as “squalid” and “unsanitary” the “jungle” (that’s actually the camp’s nickname) is home to some 4,000 asylum seekers hoping to reach the UK. Now, the idea is to pack the migrants into the shipping containers.
“The metal boxes are equipped with bunk beds, heaters and windows, but lack water or sanitary facilities,” Reuters writes [6], adding that the 1,500 or so refugees who live in the containers will have access to toilets and showers “at an existing facility now reserved for women and children.”
And while that sounds infinitely better than hanging out in a tent on the ground with no heat, some fear the new facilities are a ruse. The shipping container village is surrounded by a fence with access controlled by handprint technology."Some of [the refugees] said they were suspicious of this set-up," Reuters notes, before quoting 25-year-old Abdullah from Iraq, who says "he and his friend Saad plan to stay in their tents despite freezing winter temperatures and frequent rainstorms that turn the sand to mud."
"Once you are in there (shelter), they will not let you go out," he said. Perhaps they're afraid France plans to load the shipping containers onto a boat bound for Syria.
In any event, the push to improve Calais comes as at least one former British police terror chief says the camp is being used by jihadists who are "hiding in plain sight."
"During a visit to inspect the area Kevin Hurley said he was concerned the camp was 'completely un-policed'," BBC reports [7]. Here's more:
Mr Hurley, the former lead on counter-terrorism at the City of London Police and current police and crime commissioner for Surrey, spent several hours in the camp with BBC London's Inside Out team.
He said he was worried the camp was "a potential hiding space" and that people there could be being exploited by organised criminals.
"If I were a returning jihadi, I would smuggle myself in amongst this group; you would easily get lost," he said.
Speaking to migrants at the camp, Mr Hurley was told that there were dangerous people staying in the "jungle".
One migrant said there were people at the camp who were "working for way of Daesh", although they were not part of the jihadist group.
However, the founder of Care4Calais, a UK charity set up to help migrants staying in the camp, dismissed the claims as "the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard".
Clare Moseley said: "You would have to be the world's stupidest terrorist to try and enter Britain as a refugee, because when you come as a refugee you are subject to detailed background checks."
Perhaps, but Hurley's contention is the safer bet. That is, if you say there are terrorists camped out at Calais and no attacks ever occur, no one is going to blame you for being cautious.
On the other hand, if you call the notion that there are jihadists in the camp "the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard," and an attack is later perpetrated by someone with ties to Calais, well then the public isn't going to be very sympathetic.
Below, find an interactive video from BBC that gives you a 360 look at "the jungle" along with a Banksy mural painted at the camp which reminds the world that Steve Jobs was the son of a Syrian refugee.
