The beaches of the Opal Coast are marked by the departure of migrants, ready to embark on makeshift boats for England. A complicated situation for the authorities to manage.
In Wimereux (Pas-de-Calais), the beach is littered with clothes and things abandoned by migrants: clothes, satchels, notebooks with words written in Arabic. Things thrown away in order to lighten up as much as possible before embarking on a perilous crossing to reach the other side of the Channel. Sometimes, the police in charge of surveillance discover rubber boats, hidden under the sand, and used to transport migrants. “They silt up the material, and at the moment of the signal, they unearth it”, explains Commissioner Jublin, head of the Boulogne-sur-Mer district.
The inhabitants of the town of Ambleteuse (Pas-de-Calais) are exposed to this sad spectacle every day. A situation that breaks the hearts of some of them. Friday, October 8, France Télévisions cameras were able to film the departure of around forty migrants, without the slightest intervention from the police. For elected officials, the means are not sufficient for the area to be covered. Great Britain, supposed to support the French authorities, is singled out by Stéphane Pinto, mayor of Ambleteuse: “They have to keep their commitments.”