The post Shutdown of “Jungle” migrant camp underway in France, thousands remain inside appeared first on PBS NewsHour.
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Authorities say the camp holds almost 6,500 migrants, while aid groups put the number at more than 8,300, with more than 1,200 unaccompanied minors among them.
Numerous migrants are from Afghanistan and Syria and had wanted to reach Britain. But if it is discovered that a seeker has been previously arrested in another European Union country – a frequent occurrence for refugees trying to cross borders – the country where he or she is applying for asylum can reject the application. The evacuation process will take several days and authorities hope the camp will be demolished by the end of the week. But he said said there’s “no doubt” that there are shortcomings in the French plan for the thousands of migrants they’re moving this week, including a more solid long-term plan that will help relocate people permanently instead of moving them from one place to another. “A lot of rolling bags going past – it nearly feels like its an airport or a train station or something”.
“It’s for us really the D-Day”, he said, hailing an end to the “constant stress” of drivers fearful of being ambushed by migrants, AFP reported. They will be offered placements in refugee centres across France.
Fourteen migrants have died this year in the Calais area, mostly in hit-and-run accidents.
A migrant checks his phone as others queue to register for relocation at a temporary facility outside the camp.
Officials said they expect 2,500 people to be transferred from the camp Monday.
The number of residents in the camp is believed to be more than 10,000 with more than 1,179 children, the vast majority of whom are unaccompanied.
The man said he left behind his mother and younger brother when he fled Afghanistan to escape the war there.
“I’m not happy because it’s finished, The Jungle”.
Among the most visible symbols of Europe’s ongoing migrant crisis, the Jungle – a transient home for roughly 9,000 people-has long sparked outrage in both a France still reeling from recent terrorist attacks and a post-Brexit Britain where anti-immigrant sentiment has soared to historic highs.
But aid workers warned that the trouble overnight, when some migrants burned toilet blocks and threw stones at police, indicated tensions could escalate.
The U.K. -based aid group Help Refugees, which has workers on the ground in Calais, said in a statement earlier that 60 buses had been provided by authorities to take 3,000 people to accommodation centers across France today.
However, she said it was important the work did not encourage more children to head to Calais. “I wanted to go to the United Kingdom but I have given up on that now”. It remains to be seen whether they will be allowed to travel to the United Kingdom.
Hours before the evacuation began some migrants were still clinging to hopes of a new life across the Channel. “We keep them safe by keeping their faces discrete and their identities secret”, she said.
The migrant camp is viewed as a disgrace.
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Allaodil, a Sudanese boy who says he is 14, was wandering on Sunday through the Jungle’s garbage-strewn mud alleyways, shivering underneath a blanket.
