At least 20 have died since late June, according to the prefecture.
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Afghan children ride their bicycles in “The Jungle”.
French authorities claim that demolishing the camp is a humanitarian action. The clearing out of the southern part of the camp, instead will be “humanitarian” and “progressive”, Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart said in an interview with BFM-TV, but if “necessary, force will be used”.
The judge gave the government permission to relocate some of the residents of the camp.
A dismal winter in “The Jungle”.
“Carrying out a brutal eviction in the south part of Calais with bulldozers was never envisaged”, he said on Thursday.
The Calais camp has come to symbolize much of Europe’s ambiguous response to the refugee crisis. Local authorities say a total of 3700 people are living in the camp.
The same court in Lille ordered the state in November to clean up the camp by adding running water, toilets and garbage bins, and counting the number of minors without families – now 326 – and help those in distress. Truckers have grown exasperated or fearful of increasingly bold tactics by migrants trying to sneak a ride.
Police officers on horses patrol the dunes on the French-Belgian border in Adinkerke, Belgium, on We …
Belgium stepped up checks at its nearby border on Wednesday to prevent “jungle” residents entering the country to try to reach Britain from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. “The people have been here months, living in bad conditions, but they don’t want their shelters destroyed”.
A migrant walks on a embankment of earth surrounding the “jungle” migrants and refugee camp on February 19, 2016. Between 800 and 1000 will be affected by the impending eviction.
Aid workers fear mass eviction will result in the problems being shifted elsewhere, such as to the swamp-like Grande-Synthe camp along the northern French coast in Dunkirk. “Thousands of pounds and thousands of man-hours have been spent building shelters to get people out of the tents and the mud, to keep them warm and dry”, Moseley said, “This will now all be destroyed and this incredible investment will be wasted”.
France criticised Belgium on Thursday for dispatching police reinforcements to bolster its French frontier, complaining that Paris was not told in advance of what its interior minister called an “odd” decision. “We’re relieved by this announcement but we’re vigilant”.
It’s far from certain, however, that razing the slum will be a turning point for Calais.
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FTA acknowledged the progress made in recent months to increase security with fencing around the Calais area, but is urging the French and United Kingdom authorities to progress in the completion of secure truck parking facilities and the registration of migrants as a matter of urgency.
