Thread: 6,900 refugees set for eviction

6,900 refugees set for eviction
Tensions high inside 'Jungle' refugee camp as demolition nears

By Saskya Vandoorne, Bryony Jones, and Chandrika Narayan, CNN

Updated 5:38 PM ET, Sun October 23, 2016

Calais, France (CNN)Tensions are high inside "The Jungle," a sprawling makeshift refugee camp in the French port town of Calais, where authorities are to begin evicting migrants Monday.

Authorities have given the thousands of people living there two options: seek asylum in France or return to their country of origin.
Some 6,900 refugees, more than 1,200 of them children, live in the encampment, a jumble of squalid tents and temporary shelters.

Clashes between migrants and police erupted Saturday night at the camp, said Sue Jex, head of operations for the charity Care 4 Calais. She said a number of buildings inside the camp were destroyed by fire.




By Sunday night, CNN counted at least seven vans loaded with riot police, armed with tear gas, arriving on the scene.

On the outskirts of the camp, migrants gathered around small fires on the gravel path and in a dumpster. One person taunted a group of police officers near one of the small fires and attempted to film them on his mobile phone. Police charged toward him until he backed off and moved away. At least six small fires were spotted within the camp and its outskirts.




A large number of police are on hand to prevent crowd problems. More than 1,000 riot police officers were deployed to the camp Sunday ahead of the closure, an Interior Ministry spokesman told CNN. Horse-mounted police were seen near the camp.

Calais 'Jungle' migrant camp: What you need to know

"It's very tense because people know that change is coming," Jex told CNN. "There is a real acceptance that the camp is going (away)."

The plan is to have the camp completely torn down by December, according to the Interior Ministry. The camp sprawls over about 40 acres of sand dunes once used for landfill, with different nationalities in different sections.

Many in "The Jungle" are reluctant to register as refugees in France because their preferred destination is Britain.

"I try to stay in England but I don't have money to go in England or to stay in France. I think it is so hard for me, it is not easy ..." one Sudanese migrant said. "Only God can help me right now."

A volunteer French teacher at a school in the camp said people are worried because they do not know where they will go.

"They have no idea which place they're headed to and above all if they are going to stay with their friends," said Michel Abecassis.

"We are all very worried, I am very worried. A lot of people are here with very close friends and of course their hope is to be in a reception center with their friends, and not to just be sent anywhere."



Photos: The saga of the Calais 'Jungle'

Smoke rises after French police fired tear gas into the Calais 'jungle' camp following refugees threw rocks towards the police vans in Calais, France on October 22.

On Sunday, foot patrols of volunteers distributed flyers explaining that the camp is to close and outlining the two options open to its occupants: seek asylum in France and be relocated within the country, or return to their country of origin.

Authorities say residents of the camp will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis beginning Monday at 8 a.m. local time.
Residents were given a letter Sunday, translated into several languages.

The letter, obtained by CNN, tells the residents to make their way to a reception point where they will be put on buses.

"Everybody living in the Calais jungle will have to leave in order to be sheltered in one of the French reception and counseling centers," the letter said.

The letter assures migrants that they would be offered accommodation and meals.

Most of those living in the camp are from sub-Saharan Africa -- Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia -- and Afghanistan; they have spent months or even years there in the hope of reaching the UK, some 30 miles away across the English Channel. Refugees from war-torn Iraq and Syria have also set up temporary homes in the Jungle.

Welcome to 'The Jungle'

Those who choose to apply for asylum will be offered the choice of two French regions. They will be taken to the location they choose by bus almost immediately and offered temporary accommodation in a shelter while their claim is processed.

Up to 60 buses are expected to leave the camp on Monday, with dozens of further departures through the week.

Special provisions are to be made for unaccompanied minors.

The evacuation operation is expected to last a week, but a ministry spokesman told CNN: "If it takes more time, so be it. We have all the time in the world."




Anyone who opts to go home will be taken there by plane.

Camp inhabitants who have already sought asylum elsewhere within the European Union will be transported to that country while their application is processed.

Cleaners are expected to begin work at the site on Tuesday, expanding their "cleaning zone" as the evacuation proceeds.

Paris to open its first urban refugee camps

The announcement comes days after a court challenge to halt the demolition of the camp failed.

At a press briefing in Geneva earlier this week, UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards said the closure was welcomed as long as the French government provided a suitable solution for the displaced. He noted that the lives of children would be particularly at risk during the demolition.

"This is important so that children don't move on to other destinations and risk becoming exploited by human traffickers or end up living on the streets without any support," he said.

"Strengthened measures must be taken to reunite children with relatives in Europe."

UK to build 'big new wall' in Calais to stop migrants

The UN says 200 of the unaccompanied children in Calais have been identified as having family links to the UK. The British government has pledged to offer them a home, but only a handful have so far been taken to the UK.

CNN's Bryony Jones and Saskya Vandoorne reported from Calais, and Chandrika Narayan reported and wrote in Atlanta. Simon Cullen in London contributed.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/22/politi...ump/index.html

Calais migrants: France prepares to demolish 'Jungle' camp

Calais migrants: Clashes ahead of 'Jungle' closure - BBC News

French Police Begin Operation To Clear Calais Camp

Last Updated: October 24, 2016


Migrants with their belongings queue at the start of their evacuation and transfer to reception centers in France, and the dismantlement of the camp called the "Jungle" in Calais on October 24.

Authorities in France have begun an operation to clear a migrant camp near the port city of Calais.

Authorities say the camp, known as the jungle, holds around 6,500 migrants who are seeking to get to Britain. Nongovernmental organizations say there are more than 8,000.

On October 24, police began escorting camp residents, mainly from Africa and the Middle East, on foot to a registration center in Calais.

The migrants will be separated into families, adults, unaccompanied minors, and vulnerable individuals.

They will then be bussed to 450 refugee centers across France where they can apply for asylum.

More than 1,200 police officers have been called in to help with the operation, which is expected to last a week.

There is concern that some migrants will refuse to go because they still want to get to Britain.

Sporadic clashes broke out overnight between migrants and police, who fired tear gas.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, dpa, and the BBC

French Police Begin Operation To Clear Calais Camp

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We're not going anywhere: Migrants say they would 'rather die' than give up as French riot police move in to the Jungle camp

More than 2,000 migrants left the Jungle on Monday but many remain

A 300-strong group chanted: 'UK, UK, UK!' and are refusing to budge

Imran Ali, 20, said: 'We must get to the UK. If I die it’s no problem'


By GLEN KEOGH and MARIO LEDWITH
PUBLISHED: 22:41 GMT, 24 October 2016 | UPDATED: 23:09 GMT, 24 October 2016

Migrants in the Calais Jungle camp last night insisted they would ‘rather die’ than give up their dreams of reaching Britain.

After the first day of the operation to clear the camp, the remaining migrants from its estimated 10,000-strong population began protesting against armed officers and broke into chants of ‘UK, UK, UK!’

The 300-strong group held their hands aloft in a crossed position as if handcuffed to signify their lack of freedom.


Tempers frayed at the Jungle on Monday as migrants jostled for position

One of the protesters said the group was expressing frustration at being forced to relocate in France when they wanted to gain entry to Britain.

Yesterday 40 buses took 2,300 mainly Sudanese and Eritrean men to destinations across France.

The target had been set at 3,000 for the operation, which came before the camp is demolished today.

The migrants had begun queueing at a makeshift registration centre at dawn but trouble broke out periodically during the day as the crowd was penned together by French riot police.

Fears have already spread across Calais that the planned destruction of the Jungle will only lead to new shantytowns springing up along the French coast as migrants continue attempts to reach Britain.

Many migrants spoken to by the Daily Mail yesterday said that rather than take French asylum, they would step up efforts to cross the Channel by any means necessary.

French police moved in, wielding batons to quell the angry crowd of migrants

Jungle resident Mohammad Hadi, 22, said despite the imminent arrival of bull- dozers, he would use the time he had left in the camp to find a way across the Channel.

‘They are just going to remove the tents so we are going to build a new Jungle,’ he added. ‘I will just keep trying.’

The Afghan admitted he had been deported from the UK to his homeland in 2013 after failing to adhere to registration requirements.

But he said he made the journey back to Calais to rejoin his relatives in England because it is ‘a place of promise that can give you a bright future’.

Mr Hadi, speaking on behalf of a group of seven friends from the war-torn country, said: ‘If there is no legal way to get to the UK, we have to go back to the lorries. Yesterday I risked my life by trying to climb under a water tanker but it didn’t work.’

Imran Ali, 20, who also fled Afghanistan, told the Mail: ‘We will just try other places. We will go and jump on the ferry from Dunkirk.

‘We must get to the UK. If I die it’s no problem. I would rather die than stay here. In France they treat refugees like dogs.’

His friend Pata Azi, 13, claimed to have family in Britain, but said he had not been offereda chance to reach the UK along with unaccompanied minors who arrived last week.

‘I will go and try and jump on lorry or car,’ he said. ‘Got to keep trying.’

As older migrants were taken out in coaches yesterday, one charity said there were still 49 unaccompanied children aged under 13 remaining in the camp.

The Home Office confirmed it had been forced to ‘temporarily pause’ the transfer of young refugees from the Jungle to the UK at the request of French authorities.

All 49 children are eligible for relocation to Britain under the Dubs amendment to the Immigration Act, which ensures the country will offer sanctuary to the youngest and most vulnerable children.


Many of the migrants are from Eritrea or Ethiopia or Sudan, where war and political
violence have spurred them to seek a better life in Europe but they do not want to stay in France

The port city’s police commissioner, Patrick Visser-Bourdon, admitted the delay was due to a lack of buses which lasted for around three hours before more were obtained.

One Afghan refugee last night admitted several of his friends aged in their 20s had tried to register as under-age minors in an attempt to reach Britain.

Ajmal Begzad, 19, said: ‘They just want to leave to live in Britain so they will take that chance.’

He said their attempts had so far proved unsuccessful but they would try again.

Two uniformed Metropolitan Police officers have been deployed to Calais where they are seconded to the National Police Chiefs’ Council ‘to help minimise any disruption’.

As areas of France prepared for an influx of migrants, one centre in Loubeyrat, central France, was set alight in the early hours of Monday.

Three centres in the town had been set up to welcome migrants being evacuated.

People will be more desperate than ever to see if they can break into Britain
Charlie Elphicke, Tory MP for Dover

Conservative MPs last night called for Britain to step up its border security to prevent migrants making last-ditch attempts to make their way across the Channel.

Charlie Elphicke said the camp’s closure was vital to ‘end the Calais migrant magnet’, adding: ‘People will be more desperate than ever to see if they can break into Britain.’

French riot police were last night preparing for battle against No Borders activists based in Britain who are feared to have infiltrated the camp.

In March the hard-Left group offered violent opposition to an operation to destroy the south side of the Jungle.

Numerous fires raged in the camp last night, with residents claiming that a group of migrants had torched an area that served as a base for a group of British charity workers.

Migrants would 'rather die' than give up as French riot police move into the Jungle camp | Daily Mail Online

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The end of the exodus: Calais Jungle clearance on verge of stopping after authorities 'run out of buses' with migrants told to go back to the camp and try again tomorrow

Load up the barges and send them BACK! All men who should go back and fight for their own countries. This is out of control. Stop them at sea and tow them back.

Calais 'Jungle' demolition: Mayor warns crisis 'far from ... - The Telegraph

We don't want them': Relocated Calais migrants meet angry French town residents

Croisilles, France: The protests began even before the migrants had arrived.

"We don't want them!" shouted the demonstrators in this village of 1900 people, 128 kilometres from Calais, where the migrants were bused from the camp known as "the Jungle" .

"This is our home!" others yelled at the darkened, disused retirement home where the migrants were being housed. Inside the building, a young Sudanese man pressed his face to the window and looked out at the angry crowd, bemused.

All over France, tiny communities like this one, in the old battlefields of the country's north, are being forced to deal firsthand with Europe's migrant crisis.

'We don't want them': Relocated Calais migrants meet angry French town residents

Calais Jungle camp clearance accomplished, prefect says



By Matthias Blamont
October 26, 2016
30 Comments


Calais Jungle camp clearance accomplished, prefect says
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By Matthias Blamont
CALAIS, France (Reuters) - French authorities on Wednesday finished clearing the "Jungle", a squalid shanty town built outside the port of Calais by thousands of migrants desperately seeking a passage to Britain, and expected to disperse the last of its inhabitants around France within hours.
The operation mostly passed off peacefully, although some tents and shelters were torched in a last gesture of defiance as the refugees saw their hopes of a new life in Britain vanish.
"This is the end of the 'Jungle'," Calais' regional prefect Fabienne Buccio said. "Mission accomplished."
Riot police spread out around the camp and fire trucks moved in to put out some of the fires, which sent plumes of smoke into the sky.
Buccio said about 5,000 migrants had gone through a processing center before being transferred away by bus, and another 1,000 were still queuing there.
Local opposition to the camp, along with criticism from right-wing politicians, had stung the French government into action.
Migrants fleeing poverty and war in the Middle East, Asia and Africa came to Calais hoping to cross the short stretch of sea to Britain by trying to leap on trucks and trains, or even walk through the tunnel under the Channel.
Britain refused to accept the vast majority of them -- apart from a number of unaccompanied child migrants now being processed separately -- and high fences were built to keep them away from the port traffic, but still they came.
Hamid, 30, from Afghanistan, said he had been among those setting fire to shelters.
"We don't care about problems that are to come after this. We did it because we don't want to stay in France," he said. "We want to go to England and England only. It doesn't matter if I go to jail here."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/calais-ju...065056796.html