The full evacuation of “The Jungle” of Calais, a camp in northern France where between 5,400 and 8,150 migrants have been living for the past 18 months, will begin on Monday at 8 AM.
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Southwark Council has waited over a year to be “asked” by the government to take in unaccompanied child refugees, its leader Peter John has said. Many have stayed there for months.
The announcement of its closure makes the timetable for dismantling the camp clear for the first time.
A search operation is underway to arrest the perpetrators who are believed to be three men and were being kept in the refugee camp, the Jungle refugee camp.
Pictures recently appeared in the British press of asylum seekers walking into the home office assessment center with blankets over their heads to shield their identity yet in some cases, fanning the flames of intolerance in some corners of Britain that some of the refugees applying for asylum in Britain aren’t children – but young adults.
Several of the children there are expected to be relocated to the UK.
He added: “With demolitions due to begin on Monday we remain extremely concerned that children will go missing and urge government to redouble its efforts to transfer all the eligible children in Calais, and ensure the rest are adequately protected”.
Volunteers estimate there could be up to 500 child refugees now eligible in the camp, which will be cleared and then destroyed next week, although hundreds of unaccompanied minors will be kept there in converted shipping containers as their claims to enter the United Kingdom are processed.
Migrants who refuse to move will be at risk of getting arrested, according to officials.
French authorities expect to house about 550 children in the containers, nearly certainly insufficient for the numbers of unaccompanied children who will remain after the last of this week’s transfers to the UK.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told parliament that talks with London to see Britain take in some of the hundreds of unaccompanied minors were “proceeding very smoothly”. The provision, known as the “Dubs amendment” after its chief proponent, has not been used.
With thousands of people seeking to reach British shores, fences have been erected around the entry to the Channel tunnel and British opponents of mass immigration cast the Jungle as a danger to Britain during the European Union referendum.
“It’s just for their own extra safety because they had 40 photographers with long lenses in their face as the first thing they saw when they got off the bus”.
In September, two Belgian policemen drove a group of illegal migrants into France and released them, drawing vigorous protests from the French government.
Juppe, who is campaigning to be the right-wing candidate in the race for the presidency, said a change to the bilateral agreement was necessary after thousands of migrants gathered in Calais.
Other actions by French authorities seem needlessly provocative.
No one would claim that the camp is a good place for these children.
He told Mr Davies: “And all your response is, “I don’t think they look the right age, let’s check their teeth”.
It was chose to let them in after the French government announced the refugee camp is to be demolished.
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The Dubs amendment, named after Lord Alf Dubs, grants vulnerable unaccompanied child migrants safe passage into Britain if it is in their best interests.
