A string of shootings at the Loon-Plage migrant camp in northern France this week left at least two more people injured. Rival smugglers are believed to be behind the eruption of violence.
At the migrant camp at Loon-Plage in northern France, a young Iraqi man became the latest victim of gun-related violence. He was shot in the head and rushed to hospital in Lille, according to the France Bleu media outlet.
The incident followed a shooting a day earlier, in which two people were injured. A 32-year-old Eritrean man was taken to hospital in that instance.
It is not clear what sparked the surge of violence, but security forces say that it could be the result of threats made by Kurdish people smugglers.
"Settling of scores between smugglers in the camp happens," said Claire Millot, the general secretary of the Salam Association, a support group for migrants. "There are arguments over power, over territory … But as we see it, they aren't settling scores between ordinary migrants, because there is no hostitily between them.
"At that level, everyone mixes with everyone," said Millot.
"The conflicts are between the smugglers."
'The migrants want peace'
According to Millot, the people smugglers at Loon-Plage are themselves migrants, who likely have run out of money. This is how they ended up working for the network's ringleaders, who usually are located far away.
On August 30, nine migrants were injured in a shooting incident at the camp. Then, too, the circumstances were not clear but according to the local newspaper La Voix du Nord, the violence was started by Kurdish smugglers and was directed against Sudanese migrants.
"It's very concerning because the migrants want peace," Millot continues. "They have left their homelands because of war and misery and then they arrive here and there is more violence. They don't need that."
In the camp, which currently is home to about 500 migrants, the subject of gun violence seems to be taboo: "They don’t talk about it," says Millot. "They know that if they talk they may have problems with the smugglers."
Increase in crossings
The Loon-Plage camp is regularly dismantled by the French authorities and then - like other camps in northern France - it immediately reappears. The most recent eviction was on Thursday morning, conducted with the use of significant police resources. But according to Millot, it had little lasting impact: "There are still so many people in the camp this afternoon," she said.
According to Millot, this is because few migrants comply with police orders, and because there are so many new arrivals all the time. "There's constant movement through here."
The frequent arrivals and departures at Loon-Plage correspond to an unprecedented rate of English Channel crossings: According to the French interior ministry, in the period between January 1 and June 13, 2022, the rate of crossings to the UK was up 68% compared with the same period in 2021.
With new records being set on a regular basis, the people smuggling business – along with the potential for rivalry – is apparently still booming. On September 3 and 4, more than 2,000 migrants crossed the Channel in the span of just a weekend.
These latest figures bring the total number of crossings to the UK since the start of 2022 to more than 27,000.
Text based on an article in French, adapted by Marion MacGregor.