The hallway is dark and tucked away in the basement of hall 1 at Marseille-Provence airport. A section of the false ceiling has fallen, leaving a view of recently patched up valves. At the end, two heavy doors guard the entrance to two rooms: it is here that foreigners who have been refused entry to French territory are kept and who must, if they do not request asylum , take a flight to their city of origin.
A table, two chairs, two Spartan beds and a sanitary area with shower, sink and toilet but without a mirror. Those “holding chambers”, designed for a maximum of four people, look like cells. On the mattress covers, unknown hands have left messages in Arabic or Bengali. On the walls, whose paint is peeling in places, some prisoners have engraved their names and dates… A telephone, functional and free, is next to the entrance. The door is covered with sheets on which appear, pell-mell, the numbers of associations for the defense of rights and lawyers.
The whole is dilapidated, oppressive under its low and poorly lit ceiling. But hardly worse off than the air and border police (PAF) rest room next door. The only big difference: the windows let in only a little light. They have been obstructed because they overlook the airport runways and the passage, rolling suitcases behind them, of tourists disembarking there.
“We are very far from services equivalent to hotel conditions as required by the texts”, breathes Michel Croc, member of the National Association of Border Assistance for Foreigners (Anafé). To comply, the Marseille-Provence waiting area should also offer a relaxation room and an outdoor area accessible to detainees. “It’s not glorious, even if I expected worse”adds Guy Benarroche, senator for Europe Ecology-The Greens of Bouches-du-Rhône.
“As regards accommodation, it’s the worst in France”
Member of the study mission on the migration issue launched by the Senate Law Commission, the parliamentarian asserts, this afternoon, his right of visit. “Our migration policy is total nonsense. We are in a Kafkaesque situation which triggers both a feeling of rejection of France for migrants, and a loss of meaning for the people in charge of enforcing this policy. Are people arriving on the territory offered the possibility of having their file studied normally? Are we not ultimately creating conditions that favor illegal immigration? », he asks.
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