'Sangatte II' immigrant welcome centre is torched by arsonists: Police suspect furious Calais residents
By Peter Allen
Last updated at 1:49 PM on 27th December 2009

Arsonists have attacked the structure of a new 'Sangatte' welcome centre which was due to open for UK-bound migrants in Calais this week.
They set fire to prefabricated units which were due to house hot showers at the controversial structure close to the town's ferry port.
'A great deal of damage was done,' said a Calais police spokesman. 'One of two structures earmarked for use as a shower block was badly damaged by fire. It was due to be part of a unit containing toilets and bathrooms.
Enlarge A Calais cinema board advertising 'Welcome', a film telling the story of a refugee in Calais trying to get to Britain
'We have launched an enquiry into this act of vandalism and arson. Our fear is that local people opposed to the setting up of the new centre may be responsible.'
Earlier this month French administrative judges approved the opening of the new centre on the Rue Jacques Prevert, next to the Marcel-Doret industrial estate.
It was immediately dubbed 'Sangatte II' after the former Red Cross centre which attracted thousands of illegal foreigners before it was razed to the ground in 2002.
Enlarge The film promted the French government into announcing the opening of new 'Sangatte' like facilities for the high number of immigrants in the town
The new centre is just a few hunded yards from the site of the notorious 'Jungle' – a shanty town full of mainly Afghans which was destroyed in September as part of a plan to make Calais 'watertight' to illegal migrants.
France's Immigration Minister Eric Besson had pledged to rid the town of the hundreds of foreigners trying to get to the UK, where they will claim asylum or disappear into the black economy.
But soon afterwards Calais council signed an agreement with the charity Secours Catholique (Catholic Help) to provide facilities to migrants arriving in the town.
There were fears of a humanitarian tragedy involving those sleeping rough as temperatures dropped below zero.
Many attacked the U-turn, with Britain's shadow immigration minister Damian Green saying: 'This is another gesture of contempt from France to Britain. The only result of this will be to encourage more potential illegal immigrants to try to break our laws.'
Calais residents were also opposed to the building of the structure, which will be managed by Secours Catholique, with Calais Council paying for electricity, water and maintenance costs.
Despite this, the local authorities said they had no option but to agree to the centre, which will be open to all migrants. A special bus service will take them there from other parts of the town.
Attacking the arson attack – which may well delay this week's planned opening of the centre – a spokesman for the Pas de Calais Green Party said: 'This was a deliberate act aimed at putting refugees into an even more dangerous position.'
The Greens spokesman called for 'the authorities of the state' to 'respect the rights of migrants to shelter, to hygiene and to health' and to make sure that 'those responsible for the criminal fire in Calais will be pursued and punished.'
Plans are already underway to expand the new welcome centre in 2010, with the government in Paris contributing financially.
Since the closure of the Jungle, further migrant camps have sprung up in nearby Steenvoorde, Bailleul and St Omer, with all providing beds, food, clothing shops, medical care and advice on how to claim asylum.


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