Calais 'Jungle' migrant camp to be ‘gradually dismantled’

The "Jungle" camp in the northern French town of Calais, home to thousands of migrants hoping to reach Britain, will be dismantled in stages, the country's interior minister vowed on Thursday.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told a regional paper that he would press ahead with the closure "with the greatest determination", gradually dismantling the site while also creating accommodation for thousands elsewhere in France "to unblock Calais".

French authorities have made repeated efforts to shut down the infamous "Jungle" camp, which authorities say is currently home to nearly 7,000 migrants -- a sharp increase in recent months.

Some aid groups have put the figure as high as 10,000.

The population of the camp includes large numbers of Afghans, Somalis, Sudanese and Kurds, among other asylum seekers.

Earlier this year local authorities cleared shelters in parts of the site in a bid to persuade migrants to move into other accommodation or neighbouring camps on the northern coast.

The migrants gather in Calais hoping to smuggle themselves aboard lorries that cross the Channel to Britain either through the Eurotunnel or on board ferries.

Cazeneuve was speaking to the Nord Littoral daily the day before visiting the camp.

Since last October over 5,000 asylum seekers have left the northern French town for 161 special centres set up around France.

Intensifying the efforts to get those in Calais to leave voluntarily, another 8,000 places elsewhere will be created this year, most of them for people registering as asylum-seekers, with thousands more places to follow in 2017, said Cazeneuve.

Currently a record 1,900 police are operating in Calais, and Cazeneuve said another 200 would be added to their ranks "to reinforce the battle" against migrants smuggling themselves onto lorries bound for Britain.

The minister said President Francois Hollande would visit Calais in late September.

(AFP)

Date created : 2016-09-01