St Michael’s, a small makeshift chapel serving mainly Orthodox Ethiopian Christians among the migrants living in “The Jungle” refugee camp in Calais, was among several parts of the camp that were bulldozed by the authorities this week. A mosque was also destroyed. The charity Help Refugees, UK, said, “Sad to report that the Church has now been demolished despite the Prefecture promises to not touch places of worship. There was just time for a last minute prayer before the machinery tore in. One of the church members stood by in dignified silence, clutching the remaining cross from the Church roof.”
St. Michael’s church had previously featured on the BBC TV programme Songs of Praise and served Christians of several different traditions, Orthodox, evangelical and others. The mosque had around 300 worshippers daily. Believers are now trying to reconstruct their places of worship on a new site in “The Jungle”.
