At 8am on Wednesday 22nd May the ‘Egyptian squat’ in Calais, considered the largest squat in the town, was evicted, reports La Voix du Nord. 17 sans-papiers, from Egypt, Palestine and Syria, were inside at the time. At 10am a mechanical crane arrived and destroyed the front part of the building.

The sous-préfet of Calais, Alain Gérard, who was present during the eviction, said that the operation took place ‘without aggressiveness, with dignity and with humanity’.

According to the report, shortly after the eviction a number of other sans-papiers arrived who had been staying in the squat but had been out overnight trying to secure passage across the Channel.