Camped in Calais, migrants renew resolve to try for England

CALAIS, France (AP) — At the makeshift camps in France near Calais and Dunkirk, migrants are digging in, waiting for their chance to make a dash across the English Channel despite the deaths of at least 27 people this week when their boat sank a few miles (kilometers) from the French coast.

But most migrants say the tragedy won’t prevent them from climbing into a flimsy inflatable boat packed with up to 50 people in hopes of reaching Britain.

Kawa and his father spent the past six years in the Denmark, where they say they never felt free because they constantly had to report to police and other authorities.

Now they want to reach England, and eventually Canada, because “they are good to Iranians.”.

Ari, who like other migrants declined to give his last name for fear of being deported if he is caught, is a physics teacher from Iraq who left home because he couldn’t find work.

“Everyone is scared But everyone here — they die (a little) every day,” he said, giving a subtle nod to the camp littered with rotting banana peels, soggy shoes and tents abandoned by migrants who have already left for England.

“So people in Calais are there because they want to come here,” he said.

Britain has criticized France for not doing enough to stop the boats before they are launched, but migrants say police have become more active since the deaths.

Fifteen miles (25 kilometers) to the west at a camp outside Calais, migrants from Sudan kick a soccer ball around a patch of bare ground and hang laundry on a fence in hopes it will dry in the weak sunshine.

In Calais, aid groups have taken over a warehouse where they collect supplies like sleeping bags, food and firewood that they distribute to migrants at designated spots around the city.