The SOS Tents project aims to keep the Help Refugees warehouse in Calais stocked with sufficient tents to ensure that the refugees in and around Calais can survive the coming winter.
There are around 1,000 refugees in the area between Calais and Dunkirk, 140 of whom are unaccompanied children, and the numbers are rising rapidly.
The refugees are supported with distributions of food, clothing, and tents by Help Refugees. However, the authorities are determined to create a ‘hostile environment’ for them, so the French riot police (the CRS) regularly perform clearances. These are becoming ever more brutal. The tactics include waiting until the refugees line up for food, and then destroying their tents, and contaminating their possessions with tear-gas.
One CRS officer recently ‘came out’ and described what they do:
helprefugees.org/news/crs-officer-admits-police-brutality
You can help!
- Buy a tent through the online Help Refugees ‘Choose Love’ shop at choose.love/products/tent
- Tell everyone you know that this is happening just 20 miles away over the channel. £45 million of our tax money is subsidising this.
- Donate to, or become a member of, CamCRAG, or join us on a weekend convoy to Calais.
Join our SOS Tents project that aims to produce tents from cheap, or waste, material. We need your ideas, and raw materials:
- Tarpaulin, minimum size 3.6 m x 2.5 m
- Garden bamboo, minimum length 1.5 m
- Duct tape
- Tent pegs
