"They started chasing me with the car: they chase you, chase you, until they catch you."

In July, while Ibrahim (modified name) was walking in the area near the port of Calais, he was victim to violent acts committed by a group of people he later identified as policemen.  

Testimony collected on August 3rd, 2026 in English, without a translator.  

“It happened two weeks ago: I was simply walking around the port of Calais, at approximately 10:30 pm. I don’t see how taking a walk in that area would be illegal. I wasn’t in the port or in an area where pedestrians aren’t allowed. No, I was on the street.  

I was sitting at a bus stop, then a car came by, and they shone a flashlight on me. A very long flashlight. Then, they started chasing me. It was terrifying. Someone kept shouting at me, and I started to run.  

They weren’t wearing a police uniform. The car they were using wasn’t a police vehicle, it was some sort of van. They started chasing me with the car: they chase you, chase you, until they catch you. It was really violent. After some time, one of them opened the car door and sort of threw himself onto me, grabbed me and put me in the car.  

Not once did they try to speak to me in a language I understand. They were shouting a lot. You don’t understand what they are telling you, nor what they are trying to do.  

I don’t think that they just arrest anybody. It’s as if they were targeting some people specifically.  If a white person had been there, I don’t know if they would have put their flashlight in their face and if they would have followed them like that.  

I don’t even know if these people were policemen. They don’t identify themselves, they just come screaming and brandish their batons. It could be anybody, as if you’re being kidnapped. Because what if these people were pretending to be police? It was really violent, and the way they were speaking and shouting… It was really aggressive.  

Then they took me, without telling me what was happening, why or where they were taking me. What crime did I commit ? I wasn’t told. Is there a legal procedure or anything of that matter against me? No papers, nothing indicates it.  

I don’t even know if I was detained: they took me to some kind of police station and kept me there for, I think, fifteen hours, before letting me go. Then, I had to walk and find my way back without knowing where I was. I have never been through such a thing before.  

So, what was it? I never got the answer, I have no idea. I don’t know, they were saying lots of things in French, they didn’t even explain to me what was happening. I don’t even know if I got detained or not.  

So, they just catch somebody walking in the street… It’s like a kidnapping. I felt as if I was being kidnapped. From that moment, I don’t feel well anymore. I don’t feel safe.  

Even now, they complicate other people’s lives. The police, even in this moment, if they catch you in this neighborhood, or if you are walking around, they simply destroy your belongings: if you have a phone, they throw it and break it, with no explanation.  

I felt that it was like a gang: it’s not how the police should behave. It’s a very horrible situation. So how are we supposed to trust them ? They are meant to protect people, not brutalise them.  

I thought that here, in Europe, there were human rights, democracy, respectful laws, but there is nothing, you see. It’s like in my country. It’s the same with the police: I came here and I end up in the same situation again.  

Now, I could file a police report, but I don’t think that it would be any useful. It’s very difficult to trust a government or this institution. They will say that they cannot identify the people who did this. I think that it’s even done with the support of the entire police institution, and I don’t think that they ignore everything about these activities.  

Even public authorities here in France are aware of all those situations, of what’s happening and of the way that it happens. They simply act as if there was nothing going on: it’s very sad.”