A French court on Thursday gave the green light to plans to demolish the notorious “Jungle” camp in Calais.
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The Administrative Court in Lille, north France upheld the decision to evacuate thousands of migrants camping in Calais, rejecting NGOs request to halt the eviction’s order, Pas-de Calais prefecture said on Thursday.
The authorities have said they will use force if necessary to move them to other accommodation in a nearby container park and reception centres across France.
At the weekend, actor Jude Law and singer Tom Odell were among celebrities who took to the stage at the camp to raise the plight of refugees.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve saidthe eviction would be done “progressively, by persuasion and with respect for people’s dignity”.
‘We have had no assurances from the French authorities that they will conduct assessments to determine best interests of these children and ensure proper safeguarding is in place before removing them from the camp and the communities they know and trust.
Ms Bouchart said: “We will be vigilant about what is going to happen in the coming hours, and extremely vigilant about what happens in the coming days”.
Moving the migrants out will be France’s most dramatic step yet to end Calais’ years-long migrant problem, which has transformed the city of almost 80,000 into a high-security tension point, fuelled far-right sentiment and defied British and French efforts to make the issue go away.
The camp, on the outskirts of the French port, is a temporary home to thousands of migrants and refugees who are desperate to enter Britain.
Mignonet disputed the accusation that the authorities did not provide sufficient alternatives for the refugees to be displaced.
FTA’s Head of European Policy – Pauline Bastidon, said: “FTA welcomes the decision to start clearing the Jungle camp in Calais”.
“The UK government has a legal and moral duty to reunite unaccompanied children with their families in the UK, and we urge them to do this as quickly as possible”.
Commenting on the effect demolition will have, Clare Moseley of the charity Care4Calais said: “The waste is vast”.
FTA officials said a solution needed to be found to protect the £89 billion worth of United Kingdom trade which passes through the cross-Channel ports annually. “However, considerations should also be given to the rights of our members to go about their work without fear of violence or intimidation”.
The BBC’s Tomos Morgan at the camp says they hope to “persuade” everyone to leave.
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They have proposed for the immigrants to move to a state-run container shelter nearby or other refugees centers across France.
