Migrants risking eviction from Calais camp soon to know fate

Afterward, hundreds moved up the coast to set up small camps around Calais.

The court decided that the expulsions were justified but refused authorities permission to demolish “social areas” such as schools, kitchens and a mosque. Riot police moved in to patrol the camp this month.

Migrants taking refuge in “the Jungle”, an infamous camp in Calais, will be uprooted again. Their presence has led to tension with the local population and a permanent police deployment.

Belgian police carrying out car-by-car checks on the French border turned back 80 mainly Afghan migrants on Wednesday, a day after reinstating controls to stop people coming from the “Jungle” camp in Calais, police said.

Prefect Fabienne Buccio, the top official in France’s northern Pas-de-Calais region, said earlier this month: “It’s time to tell the migrants of Calais, who live in undignified conditions and give Calais an image that isn’t dignified either, that we have a solution for each of you”.

The court in Lille ruled that the makeshift shelters used by the migrants can be destroyed – but that common spaces like places of worship, schools and a library must be left standing.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve insisted that the evictions would be a humanitarian operation.

“It has never been our intention to send in bulldozers to destroy the camp”, Cazeneuve added.

A sense of anxiety mounted in the camp ahead of the court ruling.

The Jungle Camp is home to around 5,000 migrants – the majority of which are reportedly looking to cross the Channel to reach Britain.

“They are the government… we can’t fight them”, he said.

Mignonet disputed the accusation that the authorities did not provide sufficient alternatives for the refugees to be displaced.

They want the Government to step in and allow unaccompanied children living in the camp to be reunited with their families in the UK. Critics contend that closing the camp may not solve the problem.

Amid the muddy puddles and rat infestation, Mahdi Behpodi, 23, from Tehran, Iran, said he wants to reach Britain to join his four uncles in Manchester.

But Caroline Anning of Save The Children said: “What’s the point of community infrastructure without a community?” There is a lack of information.

But British hauliers welcomed the judgment. The Freight Transport Association (FTA) said disruption caused by migrants cost the United Kingdom freight industry £89bn worth of United Kingdom trade which passes through the cross-Channel ports annually. “I’m nearly certain that we’ll be appealing it to the European Court of Human Rights”. “However, considerations should also be given to the rights of our members to go about their work without fear of violence or intimidation”.

Almost two weeks ago, French officials announced that as many as 1,000 refugees would be evicted from the Jungle’s southern area, its most densely populated sector, and relocated to nearby shelters or to other refugee centers across France.