02:35Residents of the French port city of Calais gathered on Thursday to pay their respects for the 27 migrants who died trying to cross the English Channel the day before.
About a hundred people gathered in front of the Richelieu Park in Calais, before marching to the waterfront to throw flowers at the sea.
"Yesterday, what happened was that we had a shipwreck with about 27 people. Finally, the figures are still a bit hazy. What is actually happening is that we were alerted when I say we and the activists, the Calaisians, the shields, the associations, we have alerted the public authorities for so many years that one day, that would have happened. We were never heard", said Mehdi, a protester at the march.
On Wednesday, a dinghy carrying 30 asylum seekers capsized, killing at least 27 people as they made a perilous crossing of the English Channel.
The number of people who have crossed the English Channel to the UK tripled since 2020, with more than 25,500 arrivals this year so far, according to statistics from the British Home Office.
France: Calais locals mourn victims of English Channel drowning
Residents of the French port city of Calais gathered on Thursday to pay their respects for the 27 migrants who died trying to cross the English Channel the day before.
About a hundred people gathered in front of the Richelieu Park in Calais, before marching to the waterfront to throw flowers at the sea.
"Yesterday, what happened was that we had a shipwreck with about 27 people. Finally, the figures are still a bit hazy. What is actually happening is that we were alerted when I say we and the activists, the Calaisians, the shields, the associations, we have alerted the public authorities for so many years that one day, that would have happened. We were never heard", said Mehdi, a protester at the march.
On Wednesday, a dinghy carrying 30 asylum seekers capsized, killing at least 27 people as they made a perilous crossing of the English Channel.
The number of people who have crossed the English Channel to the UK tripled since 2020, with more than 25,500 arrivals this year so far, according to statistics from the British Home Office.
Residents of the French port city of Calais gathered on Thursday to pay their respects for the 27 migrants who died trying to cross the English Channel the day before.
About a hundred people gathered in front of the Richelieu Park in Calais, before marching to the waterfront to throw flowers at the sea.
"Yesterday, what happened was that we had a shipwreck with about 27 people. Finally, the figures are still a bit hazy. What is actually happening is that we were alerted when I say we and the activists, the Calaisians, the shields, the associations, we have alerted the public authorities for so many years that one day, that would have happened. We were never heard", said Mehdi, a protester at the march.
On Wednesday, a dinghy carrying 30 asylum seekers capsized, killing at least 27 people as they made a perilous crossing of the English Channel.
The number of people who have crossed the English Channel to the UK tripled since 2020, with more than 25,500 arrivals this year so far, according to statistics from the British Home Office.