Migrants to move into two new camps near Gare du Nord in Paris is prompting new fears
Next stop, Britain! Thousands of UK-bound migrants to move into two new camps near Gare du Nord in Paris prompting fears they will take over trains
Work on the camps is well underway near the Gare du Nord station
One camp will house men and the other will house women and children
Paris mayor said up to 100 new migrants a day are arriving in Paris
The vast majority want to get to Calais, and then on to the UK
One refugee said ‘it will give us a good base to sort out journey to England’
By PETER ALLEN IN PARIS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 16:15 GMT, 31 August 2016 | UPDATED: 21:18 GMT, 31 August 2016
Thousands of UK-bound migrants will be able to move into Paris’s first two official refugee camps by the end of September, the city’s Mayor announced today.
Ann Hidalgo said they will be located close to the Gare du Nord Eurostar terminal from where high speed trains travel direct to London.
‘There will be two migrant camps, one for men only, and one for women and children,’ said Ms Hidalgo, a Socialist who is a close ally of President Francois Hollande.
Ms Hidalgo said that up to 100 new migrants a day were currently arriving in Paris, and that the vast majority wanted to get to Calais, and then on to the UK.
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Two migrant camps will be built near the Gare du Nord Eurostar terminal from where high speed trains
travel direct to London
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Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo has announced two migrant camps in Paris will open in September
It comes as the right-wing council in Calais, 185 miles away, lobbies to destroy its own ‘Jungle’ refugee camp.
There are currently some 10,000 migrants sleeping rough in the northern port town, but leaders of the conservative Republic Party want their camp razed, or moved across the Channel to Dover.
This means that the two opening in Paris will become immensely popular, and are likely to become a magnet for thousands more asylum seekers from all over the world.
The trains between Paris and Calais are already full of migrants at all times, with the police finding it increasingly difficult to stop them getting on board.
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Migrants have contentiously set up their own camps (pictured) in Paris near the Gare du Nord station.
Now they will be given two official migrant camps
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In June this camp in Paris next to the Gare du Nord was cleared by police, sending the migrants off on
coaches to other locations in France
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Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo (right) is pictured here speaking with mayor of London Sadiq Khan (left)
as part of Khan's visit in Paris last week
Ms Hidalgo told France Inter radio station that work on the camps was well underway at undisclosed locations ‘near the Garde du Nord and boulevard de la Chapelle’.
They will include beds, washing and cooking facilities, and fresh running water for those who arrive from war-torn countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea and Syria.
Advice will also be handed out on everything from health to claiming asylum.
Many will only be hoping to stay in France temporarily before they continue their journeys to the UK, where they will apply to stay for good.
The French capital is already inundated with migrants who sleep rough in city parks, or under flyovers or railway bridges.
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The trains between Paris and Calais from Gare du Nord (pictured) are already packed with migrants
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Riot police regularly destroy their illegal settlements, but it is impossible to move them on because even if they are dispersed in coaches, they almost always come back again.
‘All we want is a home,’ said Khalif, a 26-year-old originally from Jalalabad, in Afghanistan, who is now in a squat close to the Gare du Nord. He said he was ‘extremely pleased’ at the chance of moving into one of the new camps.
‘It will give us a good base to sort out our journey to England,’ he said. ‘Finding food and warmth is not too hard in Paris, but we need somewhere official.’
Home Secretary Amber Rudd was in Paris on Tuesday, when she and her French counterpart, Bernard Cazeneuve, pledged ‘close co-operation’ in dealing with the growing migrant crisis.
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The Calais Jungle's population has soared from 4,500 in June to almost 10,000. Pictured, migrants in
the New Jungle camp
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An aerial view shows how the Calais jungle camp is reformed after parts of it were knocked down
But there are fears that the French are becoming increasingly frustrated with having to deal with thousands of migrants who simply want to go to Britain.
There are presidential elections in the Spring, and if the right-wing Republicans are elected then they could try to force the populations of all the refugees camps in France across to Britain.
The news comes after two Afghans were stabbed on Monday in a clash between rival migrant gangs in Calais trying to board lorries bound for the UK.
The men, in their early 20s, were part of a larger group confronted by Sudanese migrants in The Jungle camp. They are in a serious condition in hospital, one with a wound to an artery in his neck.
Witnesses said fight was over positions the gangs occupy at the roadside during nightly attempts to leap on to lorries heading to Britain.
Hundreds, many armed with chainsaws and knives, blockade the main road into the French port each night with burning tyres and trees, forcing drivers to stop.
Aid workers say The Jungle is a ‘pressure cooker waiting to blow’.
Its population has soared from 4,500 in June to almost 10,000, causing tensions between nationalities and meaning that food often runs out before everyone can get a meal.
http://youtu.be/4RItpHcqCnw
Migrants to move into two new camps near Gare du Nord in Paris is prompting new fears | Daily Mail Online
