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Calais refugee camp: first bus leaves as police prepare for demolition – live Calais refugee camp: first bus leaves as police prepare for demolition – live
(35 minutes later)
8.26am BST
08:26
8.05am BST
08:05
Here’s another shot of that first bus leaving the camp.
Premiers départs de la #Jungle de #Calais pour les migrants mineurs pic.twitter.com/uqQkN3qN2l
7.57am BST
07:57
Angelique Chrisafis
Angelique Chrisafis has spoken to a Sudanese refugee who has spent three months living rough in Calais but now hopes to claim asylum in France and start a new life in the country.
Yusef, 35, a pharmacist who had fled violence in Sudan, was dragging a donated suitcase of blankets to join hundreds queuing in the cold to be bussed to reception centres across France. Once inside the French hangar, he would be shown a map of France, given a choice of two places and put on a bus.
“I have no idea where I’ll go. I will close my eyes and put my finger on the map,’ he said. But he was optimistic. “I want to integrate, start a new life, contribute. I trust France to keep me safe. People misunderstand us. We don’t have economic problems, we’re fleeing violence and dictatorship.”
Yusef wanted to apply for asylum in France and start learning French straight away. “All I know about France is that they make good perfume and that Paris is called the city of love. Now I’m beginning a journey of love.”
He said three months living in the Calais camp had been “tough and miserable”. He added: “Now we’ve got to start feeling hope.”
Once he had thought he would make it to England. “But that dream died here,” he said. “That bridge is closed.”
7.50am BST7.50am BST
07:5007:50
First bus leaves the campFirst bus leaves the camp
Chrisje Sterk, a Dutch journalist, has posted this footage that she says shows the first of the buses leaving the camp to ferry migrants to new locations in France.Chrisje Sterk, a Dutch journalist, has posted this footage that she says shows the first of the buses leaving the camp to ferry migrants to new locations in France.
De eerste bus is vertrokken #calais #calaisjungle pic.twitter.com/Kj08ZoEoEUDe eerste bus is vertrokken #calais #calaisjungle pic.twitter.com/Kj08ZoEoEU
UpdatedUpdated
at 7.51am BSTat 7.51am BST
7.46am BST7.46am BST
07:4607:46
“I just want my mum”“I just want my mum”
Angelique ChrisafisAngelique Chrisafis
One young resident of the camp, Aaron, 16, said he was afraid that crossing the Channel was his best hope of finding his mother. The pair had fled Eritrea months earlier but had been split from her as they trekked through the desert.One young resident of the camp, Aaron, 16, said he was afraid that crossing the Channel was his best hope of finding his mother. The pair had fled Eritrea months earlier but had been split from her as they trekked through the desert.
Aaron had gone on alone to Libya and then to Italy by boat, knowing only that his mother hoped to get them both to England. He told Guardian Paris correspondent Angelique Chrisafis:Aaron had gone on alone to Libya and then to Italy by boat, knowing only that his mother hoped to get them both to England. He told Guardian Paris correspondent Angelique Chrisafis:
I have to get to England. That’s where my mother was going and it’s my only hope of finding her. At night I have such bad nightmares. I just want to find my mum.I have to get to England. That’s where my mother was going and it’s my only hope of finding her. At night I have such bad nightmares. I just want to find my mum.
UpdatedUpdated
at 7.51am BSTat 7.51am BST
7.24am BST7.24am BST
07:2407:24
By all accounts the camp remains calm and orderly this morning. No sign of riot police or any demolitions yet. People are queuing patiently.By all accounts the camp remains calm and orderly this morning. No sign of riot police or any demolitions yet. People are queuing patiently.
Migrants waiting to get into the hangar. pic.twitter.com/cJFufpjzb4Migrants waiting to get into the hangar. pic.twitter.com/cJFufpjzb4
Calais this morning pic.twitter.com/bIa102nEunCalais this morning pic.twitter.com/bIa102nEun
Very calm in Calais as hundreds of migrants volunteer to leave. Sudanese and Eritrean mostly in queue for processing center so farVery calm in Calais as hundreds of migrants volunteer to leave. Sudanese and Eritrean mostly in queue for processing center so far
UpdatedUpdated
at 7.31am BSTat 7.31am BST
7.18am BST7.18am BST
07:1807:18
A line of buses outside the camp.A line of buses outside the camp.
La fila di autobus pronti a caricare i migranti #Calais pic.twitter.com/zrV8G702FDLa fila di autobus pronti a caricare i migranti #Calais pic.twitter.com/zrV8G702FD
7.12am BST7.12am BST
07:1207:12
Here’s another reporter hammering home the fact that there do seem to be an awful lot of media at the camp.Here’s another reporter hammering home the fact that there do seem to be an awful lot of media at the camp.
Presumably the next big headache for Calais authorities is evacuating the 10,000 journalists pic.twitter.com/QnxnP1jFPOPresumably the next big headache for Calais authorities is evacuating the 10,000 journalists pic.twitter.com/QnxnP1jFPO
7.08am BST7.08am BST
07:0807:08
7.06am BST7.06am BST
07:0607:06
Lisa O'CarrollLisa O'Carroll
Mohamed, 23, from Eritrea is very happy to leave the camp. As he walks up to queue at processsing center he tells me: “The camp is dirty and dangerous”. He has been here for three months and has tried to get asylum in France before, he says. “My fingerprints were taken in Italy and where ever you go in Europe after that they say you have to go back to the Italy under the Dublin regulation,” he says. “Now they say for the first time the fingerprints don’t matter and we can start applying for asylum again. I am happy, “ he says. He has been told the buses will go all over France including Marseilles, Lyons and Paris.Mohamed, 23, from Eritrea is very happy to leave the camp. As he walks up to queue at processsing center he tells me: “The camp is dirty and dangerous”. He has been here for three months and has tried to get asylum in France before, he says. “My fingerprints were taken in Italy and where ever you go in Europe after that they say you have to go back to the Italy under the Dublin regulation,” he says. “Now they say for the first time the fingerprints don’t matter and we can start applying for asylum again. I am happy, “ he says. He has been told the buses will go all over France including Marseilles, Lyons and Paris.
7.00am BST
07:00
The queuing continues ...
Hundreds of migrants, many of them Sudanese queuing in the dark to be taken Calais camp. Almost outnumbered by media pic.twitter.com/JATZshOb1y
Ismail, 25, from Sudan, happy to go to clearance queue. He travelled via Libya and Italy. Wants asylum in France pic.twitter.com/pZ2Qk7i4nq
6.55am BST
06:55
'Better to die in my own country'
Angelique Chrisafis
Two Afghan men who had spent several months in the squalid Calais camp, and years travelling, had now decided to go home to Jalalabad. They were awake before dawn and carrying the few possessions they had to register at the vast hanger. France has temporarily increased the aid to people wanting to make the journey home to their countries. Muhammad, 26, said: “I’ve tried. I’ve taken so many risks trying to get on the back of lorries. Better to die in my own country than here under a truck.”
6.52am BST
06:52
Lisa O'Carroll
Guardian reporter Lisa O’Carroll is on the ground in the camp. She has sent us this dispatch:
Good morning from the Calais camp where it is dark, dry and peaceful.Despite reports of tension, an orderly queue of several hundred migrants has already formed a quarter of a mile from the camp to be taken to accommodation centers around France.
Today is the first of three days of clearance during which the authorities wish to relocate up to 10,000 people to specialist accommodation centres for formal registration and processing by the French and British authorities.
Most in the queue appear to be Sudanese. Two I spoke to said they wanted to stay in France and apply for asylum.Mohamed, from Darfur, left his country 24 months ago, taking a treacherous journey with people smuggled through Libya and on, by boat, to Italy.
He spent 10 months in Holland but was refused asylum there. “They told me the colour of my skin was not from Sudan. I want to stay in France,” he said.
He has spent the last three months in the Calais camp. “It is dangerous, too many people, I am happy today to leave,” he said.
Ismail, 25, also from Sudan, also says he is happy to be in the queue. “Where do you want to go? France or the UK?”. “France, France, I want to stay here.”
The French hope to clear 3,000 adults and children from the camp today with 60 buses taking them to unidentified centres across France.
Migrants have been asked to volunteer and from 8am will be invited to join one of four queues - adult, family, child, or vulnerable and disabled.
They will be given colored wrist bands and once a bus load has amassed will be whisked away.
The French are hoping to have buses moving every 15 minutes.
Scenes in the dark here outside the camp were slightly shambolic with the queue initially dwarfed by TV crews doing live broadcasts without talking to the men gathering behind.
6.47am BST
06:47
6.37am BST
06:37
Mark Townsend
Mark Townsend writes in the Observer that as the toxic symbol of Europe’s migrant crisis is demolished, the personal tragedies continue for the thousands involved.
Inside the camp itself, the countdown to clearance has prompted panic. On Saturday charities were frantically handing out secondhand suitcases to families, disseminating advice on what to do when the dreaded columns of the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité – the riot police – converge on the camp.
Some are not prepared to find out. “A few boys left yesterday, they asked if I wanted to go,” said Abdul Shahnawaz, 16, from Musa Qala, Helmand province, Afghanistan, who has lived in the camp since March. Did they say where? “That way,” said Abdul, pointing towards Belgium.
Read his full analysis here:
6.18am BST
06:18
“Can’t someone help me find my mum?”
Angelique Chrisafis
On the eve of the operation raze the camp, young residents were beset by fear and anxiety about their future.
Paris correspondent Angelique Chrisafis spoke to Aaron, 16, from Eritrea, who arrived in Calais in June after a perilous journey fleeing conflict. He became separated from his mother along the way, and hopes to reunite with her in Britain.
Read the full story here:
6.16am BST
06:16
'They have no idea where in France they will be sent'
1/Before dawn in #calais hundreds of mainly Sudanese men with donated rucksacks stand in line waiting to be put on buses across France
2/They have no idea where in France they will be sent. They will be shown a map & given a choice of 2 regions #Calais
6.14am BST
06:14
An ITV reporter on the scene says the first buses have arrived to move people out of the camp.
First buses have arrived in #Calais to take away thousands of migrants and refugees from the #Jungle camp @GMB pic.twitter.com/SwUbkqy6pO
6.08am BST
06:08
Angelique Chrisafis
Our Paris correspondent Angelique Chrisafis is in the Calais camp watching events unfold and has sent this report:
By 6am in Calais, refugees and migrants had begun to line up with rucksacks on the road outside the hangar where buses would later take them to processing accommodation centres across France.
Some others, who didn’t want to stay in France and who had given up hope of getting to England, were chancing it on their own - some going to Germany or to Italy. Ehsan, 20, from Afghanistan, had been trying to stow away on trucks to Kent six nights a week for four months.
He was now going by train back to Italy where he had been fingerprinted upon arrival in Europe. ‘Nobody knows what the future holds,’ he said. ‘I just want to be safe and to one day find work.’
6.03am BST
06:03
Refugees and migrants arrive at official meeting points
Backing up what we have seen from Twitter, AFP now reports that people have started arriving at official meeting points set by French authorities as part of the full evacuation of the Calais camp.
Men and women carrying suitcases and bundles of possessions gathered in front of a warehouse which is serving as the main headquarters of the operation in which some 6,000 to 8,000 migrants will be moved to reception centres across the country.
A queue of around 60 people already stretched in front of the closed doors of the operational headquarters, under the glow of streetlights.
Dozens of riot police vehicles and other trucks carrying equipment had earlier set off in the direction of the operation centre, an AFP correspondent saw.”
Updated
at 6.04am BST