Expelled asylum-seekers head back towards Calais

Many of the asylum-seekers expelled from a Calais church on Thursday, and shipped by police to other parts of France, are already making their way back to the Channel coast, it emerged yesterday.

Although most have agreed verbally to seek asylum in France, abandoning all right to do so in Britain, very few have actually done so.

In a typical incident, 29 refugees, mostly Iraqi Kurds, arrived by train in the small town of Joué-les-Tours, on the Loire near Tours, 350 miles from Calais, on Thursday afternoon. They were taken to a refugee shelter in the town.

Thirteen left the shelter immediately, saying that they were going "shopping". They did not return, and are believed to have taken trains, or hitch-hiked, back to the Channel coast. The remaining 16 had not yet made formal asylum requests yesterday. The same pattern was reported from 15 other towns which received 250 refugees expelled from Calais on Thursday and Friday – including 96 who had been expelled from the Saint-Pierre Saint-Paul church.

It was becoming clear that the French authorities and refugees were engaged in a giant game of cat and mouse. Refugees are being systematically swept from the streets of Calais and taken hundreds of miles away, but most are immediately setting out again for the north. Others have set up makeshift camps in the countryside around Calais, from which they attempt to make the increasingly difficult, illegal journey to Britain.

Although the defences of the Channel Tunnel and the ferry port are now almost impregnable, a trickle of refugees is still getting through, from Calais or other French or Belgian ports. An elderly Afghan said yesterday that he had paid €2,250 (£1,440) to a British smuggler to take his wife and daughter to Kent.

The French and British authorities are hoping that the refugee grapevine will spread the news of the stricter new British immigration law, the renewed firmness of the French police, and the closure of the Sangatte refugee camp near Calais to new entrants. They predict that the flow of new arrivals at the Channel coast will soon dry up.

Humanitarian organisations working with the refugees say that there is no sign of this happening yet. The prospect of a war between Iraq and the West some time in the next few months may actually increase the influx, they warn.

Mireille Gest, a Green regional councillor for the Calais area and member of a refugee support group called C-Sur, said: "We fear that we are going to see a man-hunt in the streets of Calais for many days to come ... The Government says that these people are going away of their own free will, but they are taken away forcibly if they refuse to go to shelters in other parts of France." The refugees are given five days in which to apply for asylum in France. If they fail or refuse to do so, they risk expulsion from French territory. Some asylum-seekers, from countries including Russia and Rumania, are being expelled.

The majority are, or claim to be, Iraqi Kurds. The French authorities, following a series of judgments in French courts, make no attempt to expel asylum-seekers from countries where they might face ill-treatment if they return.

Humanitarian groups warn that the problems seen in the 10 days since the closure of Sangatte to new entrants may be nothing compared to the crisis that will arise when Sangatte closes for good in April.

The number of refugees in the Calais area was estimated last week by the French Red Cross at around 4,000. Of these, around 1,800 are living at Sangatte at any one time and will be tolerated until April. However, it was reported last week that, before the centre closed its doors, 5,000 refugees had been fingerprinted and given badges entitling them to stay in the camp. Some of these may have entered Britain illegally. Others try their luck in Belgium or in other French ports.

It emerged yesterday that the rules at Sangatte had been tightened: anyone who leaves the camp for 72 hours or more has their badge cancelled, swelling the numbers on the streets or in makeshift camps.

Meanwhile, camp lists have turned up some anomalies: one resident for the past two years turns out to be a homeless 35-year-old British man known only as Chris L. Asked why he's there, he replies: "Because this is the place you find the best Afghan shit [cannabis]."