“They didn’t say anything to us, immediately, they just started spraying us in the face. I saw four police; they looked like they were enjoying themselves when they sprayed us, it’s a game to them.”

The respondent, a 34-year-old man from Sudan, was hiding inside the back of an open lorry in a public parking lot, Parcare Calais, in late October 2023 (approximately October 28th). The respondent was in the lorry with a boy from Sudan, reportedly a minor. 

The respondent reported that whilst they were hiding in the lorry, he heard other people walking behind him, but he could not see who they were. After a few minutes, the other people left the surroundings of the lorry. The respondent now assumes the people he heard were police officers.

After 15 minutes had passed, the respondent reported that four uniformed police officers entered the lorry and immediately started pepper-spraying the respondent and the minor he was with in their faces. The respondent could not identify which police brigade the uniforms belonged to. He reported that the police officers did not speak to them at all before using their pepper spray. 

“They didn’t say anything to us, immediately, they just started spraying us in the face. I saw four police; they looked like they were enjoying themselves when they sprayed us, it’s a game to them.” 

The respondent recalled being in pain and not being able to see properly whilst lying down on the floor of the back of the lorry, whilst the officers continued spraying him in the face. After a few seconds, the respondent got up off the floor and exited the truck. He then started running down the street whilst the officers continued to chase him and spray him with pepper spray.

The respondent recounted that he outran the four police officers, and subsequently began walking down Rue de Judee (street in Calais). When the respondent walked past 40 Rue de Judee, he recalled being spat on by someone inside a moving car, passing him on the street. The respondent recalled that the person who spat on him was not uniformed, but was, however, in a black car.

After being shown an image of a typical Brigade Anti-Criminalité car, the respondent identified that the car he saw looked the same. The respondent also recalled that driving directly behind this car was an unmarked white van, where the driver and passengers were all uniformed police officers. The respondent could not identify which police brigade the uniforms belonged to. 

“The police here, they’re not police, they’re like mafia. When they’re driving, they wait until there are blind spots with no cameras on the streets, and they can do whatever they want to you. No one will find out. My friends, we all think nobody will care.”