Two Dutch photojournalists have posted a video to YouTube depicting three migrants attacking them and attempting to rob them of their gear inside a migrant camp in Calais, France.
Dutch filmmakers Teun Voeten and Maaike Engels were in the middle of shooting for their independent film ‘Calais: Welcome to the Jungle,’ when three masked attackers, one of whom was wilding a knife and pepper spray, attempted to rob the pair of their possessions.
The 40-second video, which Engels said was ‘accidentally’ filmed, depicts three attackers throwing down Voeten onto a tent in an attempt to steal hist possessions. In the process, Engels appears to intervene, inciting one of the attackers to come at her with a knife.
The camera then drops for a few seconds and all we see is the group. Once the camera is back upright and filming we see the three attackers running off. According to Voeten, other migrants came to the rescue and helped scared off the attackers.
Remarkably, no one was injured and nothing was stolen, including the DSLR around Voeten’s neck.
Nearly #mugged by #Calais jungle #migrants while shooting with @MaaikeEngels1 Other #refugees came to the rescue. https://t.co/iz5EysU8S3
— teun voeten (@teunvoeten) January 16, 2016
After posting the video to Facebook a number of commenters requested him take it down as it will paint a negative picture on immigrants as a whole. Voeten stood by his decision to post it stating, ‘I am not into self censorship. We showed ahole refugees who wanted to rob us, and brave refugees who helped us.’
In a separate statement to The Local, Voeten said:
We put it online because it’s a perfect representation of refugees in general. You have good refugees and bad refugees. The bad ones were robbing us while the good ones were rescuing us.
According to RT, this isn’t the first time violence has occurred at the 4,000-person migrant camp, often nicknamed ‘The Jungle.’ In their report on the incident RT said:
Migrants are said to often attack one other and camp workers. Frustrated with heightened security and finding it ever harder to cross into the UK, Calais migrants have also been attacking truck drivers.
