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MOMENTS OF MADNESS
Page 11
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SEPTEMBER 1999 • Sangatte centre, originally built as a warehouse for the construction of the tunnel, is requisitioned by French authorities to house asylum seekers sleeping rough in the area.
FEBRUARY 2001 • A Eurotunnel statement claims it is preventing in the region of 100-150 people from entering the UK illegally every night and calls for relocation of the Sangatte refugee centre.
AUGUST 2001 Coverage of the illegal immigrant problem peaks as 44 refugees are held after walking miles into the Channel Tunnel: 16 refugees including nine children are found under a Eurostar train in London: and 80 asylum seekers are rounded up on Eurotunnel's Calais site and returned to Sangatte.
AUGUST 2001
▪ Eurotunnel initiates its first
court action to get the Sangatte centre closed down.
SEPTEMBER 2001 • Eurotunnel's attempt to close down the Sangatte centre is rejected by a French court on the basis that there is 'no evidence' of a link between the opening of the camp and the tunnel break-ins.
SEPTEMBER 2001
re About 100 of the 1,000 residents of the village of Sangatte hold a protest
demanding closure of the camp.
OCTOBER 2001 • French police arrest 154 refugees who break into a freight terminal serving the Channel Tunnel. DECEMBER 2001
v# More than 130 refugees storm the tunnel on Christmas night after breaching security fences and running past guards-400 more are later pushed back by French riot police using tear gas.
JANUARY 2002 • Eurotunnel files its second court action in an attempt to get the centre closed following the storming of the tunnel on Christmas night.
FEBRUARY 2002 • Eurotunnel's second action is rejected as Lille court accepts the local authority's argument that the problem is not the camp itself but the attraction of the tunnel for refugees. Eurotunnel says it will consider further action.
FEBRUARY 2002
u. Kent police arrest a number of suspected illegal immigrants after up to 40 come to Britain on an EWS train, cutting its brake pipes shortly after emerging from the Channel Tunnel to facilitate their escape.
FEBRUARY 2002
e Eurotunnel attacks the UK and French governments for inaction after reporting losses of £132m in 2001 and claims £20m in lost revenues as a direct result of problems with asylum seekers.
FEBRUARY 2002
4 Hundreds of feuding refugees at Sangatte are reported to have been separated by French riot police after clashes allegedly encouraged by rival criminal gangs involved in people smuggling.