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| Calais crisis: 'It’s easier to leave us living like this if you say we are bad people' | Calais crisis: 'It’s easier to leave us living like this if you say we are bad people' |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| On the edge of the “jungle”, just beneath the imposing security fence that separates the 3,000 people living in Calais’s migrant camp from the motorway that runs to the port, Tewedros lifts up the sleeve of his shirt to show his latest injury. | |
| Related: Calais crisis: Cameron condemned for 'dehumanising' description of migrants | |
| The 20-year-old, who fled Ethiopia two years ago after his father was killed, said a French policemen had hit him with a baton and then covered his face with pepper-spray. | |
| “It was two days ago, up there,” he says pointing to fence where two police officers look down over the camp. “There were lorries queuing so we tried to get up but they hit us.” | “It was two days ago, up there,” he says pointing to fence where two police officers look down over the camp. “There were lorries queuing so we tried to get up but they hit us.” |
| Standing with four friends in the morning sunshine on Thursday he shrugs his shoulders when asked how he feels. “This is not anything. It happens every day. Every one of us can tell you the same story. But much worse things are happening here.” | Standing with four friends in the morning sunshine on Thursday he shrugs his shoulders when asked how he feels. “This is not anything. It happens every day. Every one of us can tell you the same story. But much worse things are happening here.” |
| The UK prime minister, David Cameron, drew widespread criticism on Thursday for saying that the 185,000 men, women and children who have risked their lives to flee poverty, persecution and war in search a better life were “swarming” across the Mediterranean. | The UK prime minister, David Cameron, drew widespread criticism on Thursday for saying that the 185,000 men, women and children who have risked their lives to flee poverty, persecution and war in search a better life were “swarming” across the Mediterranean. |
| Refugee advocates and political opponents said his comments were inflammatory and dehumanised some of the world’s most vulnerable and desperate people. | Refugee advocates and political opponents said his comments were inflammatory and dehumanised some of the world’s most vulnerable and desperate people. |
| But in the jungle Muslim Hussain did not have time to feel affronted. | But in the jungle Muslim Hussain did not have time to feel affronted. |
| Hussain, whose cousin died two days ago when he fell off a moving train bound for the UK, was too busy trying to work out how he was going to get the body back to their family in a remote region of Pakistan. | Hussain, whose cousin died two days ago when he fell off a moving train bound for the UK, was too busy trying to work out how he was going to get the body back to their family in a remote region of Pakistan. |
| Looking pale and drawn he said: “We are trying to find out where he is, which hospital but everything is very difficult here … I am trying but it is difficult.” | Looking pale and drawn he said: “We are trying to find out where he is, which hospital but everything is very difficult here … I am trying but it is difficult.” |
| Hussain, speaking outside the makeshift field hospital run by medical charity Médicins du Monde, said his cousin Sadiq suffered serious head and chest injuries as the pair clung onto a moving train in the early hours of the morning. He died later the same day. | Hussain, speaking outside the makeshift field hospital run by medical charity Médicins du Monde, said his cousin Sadiq suffered serious head and chest injuries as the pair clung onto a moving train in the early hours of the morning. He died later the same day. |
| They had travelled together from a tribal area of Pakistan, which he said was increasingly dangerous, arriving in the jungle three months ago. | They had travelled together from a tribal area of Pakistan, which he said was increasingly dangerous, arriving in the jungle three months ago. |
| “We wanted somewhere safe where we could maybe work and send money back. But that is all gone now. | “We wanted somewhere safe where we could maybe work and send money back. But that is all gone now. |
| Sadiq is one of at least eight people from the jungle to die in recent weeks – although most migrants said on Thursday that they believed the figure was much higher. | |
| Leigh Daynes, executive director of Médicins du Monde, said stories like Tewedros’s and Muslim’s were all too familiar. | Leigh Daynes, executive director of Médicins du Monde, said stories like Tewedros’s and Muslim’s were all too familiar. |
| “We’re treating a growing number of people who have been injured, many of them seriously, after falling from trucks and from police brutality. Almost all have fled their home countries because of armed conflict, political, religious or racial persecution. Many have endured extremely long, difficult and dangerous journeys.” | “We’re treating a growing number of people who have been injured, many of them seriously, after falling from trucks and from police brutality. Almost all have fled their home countries because of armed conflict, political, religious or racial persecution. Many have endured extremely long, difficult and dangerous journeys.” |
| The situation in Calais is part of the wider crisis in which more than 185,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean into southern Europe since January. Most will try to claim asylum in other EU countries – Germany and Sweden top the list, with the UK more than halfway down. | The situation in Calais is part of the wider crisis in which more than 185,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean into southern Europe since January. Most will try to claim asylum in other EU countries – Germany and Sweden top the list, with the UK more than halfway down. |
| But about 3,000 now live in Calais – a town that increasingly resembles a fortress, with hundreds of metres of high fences topped with razor-wire paid for by the UK government with more security measures promised. | |
| In the jungle, politicians’ focus on security and Cameron’s latest comments about “swarming” migrants did nothing to persuade those living here that French or UK officials either understood or cared about their plight. | In the jungle, politicians’ focus on security and Cameron’s latest comments about “swarming” migrants did nothing to persuade those living here that French or UK officials either understood or cared about their plight. |
| “They don’t come here and talk to us so how do they know anything about us?” said Adil, 24, from Sudan, who has been in the camp for four months. “It’s easier to leave us living like this if you say we are bad people, not human.” | “They don’t come here and talk to us so how do they know anything about us?” said Adil, 24, from Sudan, who has been in the camp for four months. “It’s easier to leave us living like this if you say we are bad people, not human.” |
| Charity workers agreed that governments had to do more to help those living here. Daynes said: “We are calling for a proportion of the funding allocated to Calais to be diverted towards meeting the serious and immediate humanitarian needs of migrants.” | Charity workers agreed that governments had to do more to help those living here. Daynes said: “We are calling for a proportion of the funding allocated to Calais to be diverted towards meeting the serious and immediate humanitarian needs of migrants.” |
| For Tewedros, like many of those trying to make ends meet in the jungle, those “serious immediate needs” are fairly simple. | For Tewedros, like many of those trying to make ends meet in the jungle, those “serious immediate needs” are fairly simple. |
| “We live on one meal in this mess. People are always ill and many are dying ... Every night I walk miles to try and get on trains or lorries. I am always tired and hungry and I have no money.” | “We live on one meal in this mess. People are always ill and many are dying ... Every night I walk miles to try and get on trains or lorries. I am always tired and hungry and I have no money.” |