According to a spokesperson for Medecins Sans Frontieres, the French police are using tear gas against migrants living at the so-called Jungle camp in the French port city of Calais.
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160229/1035536744/rear-gas-migrants-calais.html#ixzz41ZFuVZ2j
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The French police are using tear gas against migrants living at the so-called Jungle camp in the French port city of Calais, a spokesperson for Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, told Sputnik on Monday.
“We can confirm that this morning dozens of policemen went onto the camp and they started to remove part of the camp called part 9. We know that this afternoon they launched tear gas in the camp and some violence occurred against migrants. There is violence there now, and they are using tear gas against migrants,” Samuel Hanryon said.
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Details in The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/29/french-authorities-begin-clearance-of-part-of-calais-jungle-camp?CMP=share_btn_tw
French authorities step up moves to dismantle part of Calais 'Jungle' camp
French authorities have begun what appears to be a concerted if gradual process to dismantle the sprawling refugee camp in Calais known as the “Jungle”.
Volunteers helping those inside the collection of makeshift structures and tents, which houses an estimated 3,500 people, said workers began taking down homes in the southern section of the camp from early on Monday morning, backed by police.
Videos on French media websites showed people in orange-jackets dismantling wooden structures by hand, with riot police in the background. The debris was loaded into a large container. About 20 shelters were reportedly pulled down.
A spokeswoman for the volunteer British group, Help Refugees, said the demolition work had continued gradually for much of the day, and that between 60 and 70 camp residents had lost their accommodation.
The work took place without unrest, although one British activist was reportedly arrested.
Calais authorities have pledged to dismantle a significant part of the southern section of the encampment, although they say this will take place over weeks. The work was delayed by a legal appeal by migrant charities, rejected by a French court late last week.
Of those who lost their homes on Monday, some had moved into space elsewhere in the camp, the Help Refugees spokeswoman said, while others had been seen carrying sleeping bags into Calais.
“We don’t really know yet what people will do, but it seems likely some will just be dispersed to other areas around Calais,” she said.
Clare Moseley, of British volunteer group Care4Calais, said prefecture officials arrived at the camp at 7am and gave residents an hour’s notice to leave or face arrest. “The police presence is massive,” she said. “They have the whole area cordoned off.” French media reported that about 40 vans of riot police were in position near the site.
Help Refugees said some of its volunteers had been blocked on Monday morning from entering the camp, home to refugees and migrants from countries including Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan and Egypt.
A spokeswoman said the demolition began in a section of the camp with a mostly Iranian population: “People were being told they had to leave, otherwise they would be arrested. A lot of people seemed quote confused.”
A spokesman for the Calais prefecture denied there was a vast new clearing operation under way. He said French officials from asylum agencies and other state agencies would continue to go from tent to tent to talk to talk to migrants about their options as they had done last week.
“There is a reinforced police presence today to allow those officials to enter and talk to people. But this is a gradual process which will take place over several days and weeks. There will be no bulldozers.”
Fabienne Buccio, the head of the Calais prefecture, said three-quarters of the homes in the southern part of the camp were now empty after officials encouraged residents to leave over recent days.
Police were needed, she said, in case what she described as “extremists” tried to stop migrants accepting offers of new accommodation or buses to centres elsewhere in France.
Migrant aid groups had feared the local French authorities could move swiftly after a court on Thursday gave the legal go-ahead to demolition.
French authorities said earlier this month they intended to bulldoze half of the main camp, warning between 800 and 1,000 migrants and refugees to leave a seven-hectare southern section of the site. Buccio previously told Le Monde she intended to reduce the size of the camp by about half.
Care4Calais is among the groups that have opposed the dismantlement plans in the French courts. A legal appeal against last Thursday’s ruling had been lodged last week, Moseley said, and was expected to be heard soon.
A Help Refugees spokeswoman said Monday’s work did appear to be the start of wider clearance: “That’s what it’s looking like. They did say it’s going to be slow and respectful, giving people options, and I suppose they have in a way. But at the same time they’re not giving people access to information. One person was seen being given their options as their shelter was being dismantled, so the respect they talked about last week isn’t really happening.”
While some residents have moved into shipping container shelters and a small number have left on state-provided coaches to centres elsewhere in France, many more than the official estimate of 800 to 1,000 people remained inside the main camp. A census carried out by two charities recorded 3,455 people living there, with one group telling the Guardian earlier this week that this included 445 children, of whom 305 were unaccompanied.
Welfare groups, including Save the Children, have warned that clearance efforts will leave residents with nowhere to go, among them an estimated 300 unaccompanied children. There are a few hundred places remaining in the container camp, but nowhere near enough to house all those potentially evicted.
While the dismantlement process was given the go-ahead last week, the court in Lille ruled that common spaces such as schools and places of worship could remain standing.
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