Field Note #005: Arrival in Calais

Today I arrived at Calais-Fréthun train station, where I was picked up by Hanna from Mobile Refugee Support and immediately whisked away to their warehouse in Dunkerque. This marks the beginning of my time with them as a volunteer.

Organising the journey from the UK to Calais was comparatively difficult to normal, with many of the direct services cancelled due to COVID. Nonetheless, as a so-called ‘regular’ traveller, this experience was incomparable to the journeys those branded ‘illegal’ or ‘irregular’ have to endure to cross the Channel. In the end I had to travel by Eurostar to Lille-Europe and then take the TGV back the way I came to Calais-Fréthun. In doing so I was able to experience first-hand crossing through the juxtaposed border controls at St Pancras International, where French border officials, Police aux Frontières (PAF), operate on British soil.

As soon as we exited the Channel Tunnel, I was immediately struck by the extent to which the areas surrounding Calais transport infrastructures have been securitised. Barbed wire fences and fortified walls lined the railway for miles. This was even more apparent on the drive back from the warehouse in Dunkerque into Calais’ city centre. A majority of the roads surrounding the port have been fenced or walled off to prevent migrants from gaining access. As a result, the approach to the city feels extremely fragmented, disoriented and oppressive. Apparently this continues into the city centre. Much of this securitisation is funded by the UK government.