He expressed commitment to a “total dismantling” of the north zone of the camp “in one step”, the mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, told reporters after meeting with Cazeneuve.
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France has made repeated efforts to shut down the camp of tents and temporary shelters, which authorities say is now home to almost 7,000 migrants following a surge of new arrivals in recent months.
Bernard Cazeneuve said on Friday that the process would be “gradual and controlled.to definitively close the camp” where thousands of people from the Middle East, Africa and Asia have taken shelter, hoping to make their way to Britain. But this month the number of people in the camp reached an all-time high of nearly 10,000 people, aid organisations estimate.
Record numbers of migrants – possibly more than 9,000 – are now living in the makeshift camp, reduced in size by half in March.
Cazeneuve met with local officials, business representatives, and police.
He said the government was determined to take down the camp, which is estimated to now have about 9,000 people.
Two migrants were seriously hurt on Tuesday in what appears to have been a fight between Sudanese and Afghan residents. Authorities have said over the past year more than 5,000 asylum seekers have left the northern French town for 161 special centres set up around France.
Aid groups, meanwhile, said they were concerned any quick dismantling of the squalid camp would create a bigger humanitarian crisis than the present one.
Demonstrators say they are facing an increased threat from gangs of migrants attempting to enter the United Kingdom, whose tactics include blocking roads with trees to allow them to climb aboard vehicles.
The government should also encourage the requisitioning of public buildings to house migrants, he said.
He said the French authorities’ decision to demolish the southern part of the camp in March had made the situation worse.
He told regional newspaper Nord Littoral that he would dismantle the site in stages “to unblock Calais”, while creating accommodation elsewhere for those the operation displaces.
A planned blockade by lorry drivers protesting about the migrant crisis in Calais has been downgraded to a “go-slow”.
Calais has come under political scrutiny in recent days as France limbers up for next year’s presidential election.
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“We are committed to working together to strengthen the security of our shared border (and) to strongly diminish the migratory pressure in Calais”, they said in a joint statement.
