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Calais camp: demolition crews move in Calais camp: demolition crews move in
(35 minutes later)
Crews in hard hats and orange jumpsuits have started dismantling the makeshift camp in northern France that has become a symbol of Europe’s refugee crisis. Crews in hard hats and orange jumpsuits have started dismantling the makeshift camp in Calais that has become a symbol of Europe’s refugee crisis, as thousands of people remained there waiting to be relocated.
The workers started tearing down cabins, tarpaulin-covered sheds and other temporary buildings at the refugee camp in Calais on Tuesday afternoon. The workers tore down plywood cabins, sheds and other temporary buildings at the camp in the port city in northern France, one of the biggest in Europe, where thousands of people have been living in dire conditions.
The demolition is taking place as authorities are emptying the camp of an estimated 6,300 people who have been living there, down from a high of 10,000 this summer.The demolition is taking place as authorities are emptying the camp of an estimated 6,300 people who have been living there, down from a high of 10,000 this summer.
The migrants and refugees are being bused to relocation centres elsewhere in France, where most hope to apply for asylum. Earlier in the day, there were some isolated scuffles as police and French authorities began the second day of a planned week-long mass evacuation and closure of the camp.
More details soon … Police initially appeared to struggle as hundreds of children penned into a small area outside a processing centre became impatient and anxious to get to the front of the queue. Volunteers arrived speaking Pashto to the mainly Afghan boys and young men at the front.
The migrants and refugees are being bussed to relocation centres elsewhere in France, where most hope to apply for asylum. More than 1,900 left on Monday, and the Calais prefecture said that as of midday on Tuesday a further 656 people had boarded buses from Calais.
The prefecture added that 139 more under-18s had been put in heated shelters in the camp, in addition to the 400 who had been sheltered on Monday.
Nearly 200 under-18s have arrived in the UK in recent days and hundreds more are expected, the home secretary, Amber Rudd, told parliament on Monday. However, a quarter of English councils have refused to take part in resettling refugees.
Many more migrants and refugees are preparing for a huge day of departures on Wednesday. “People are leaving tomorrow. Lots of people have planned for tomorrow,” Abdul Walia, a community leader among the sizeable Afghan population of the camp, said.
Walia said the camp departures had been peaceful, despite the uncertainty for people being forced to leave. “Lots of people are upset as their hope is to go to England,” he said. “But this hope is finished.”