French court greenlights eviction of migrant camp

Humanitarian organizations say over 3,000 migrants live in the targeted southern sector.

A charity has said the demolition of half of the shanty settlement, which is home to thousands of people trying to reach the United Kingdom, may begin as early as Friday after the go-ahead was given by a French judge.

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.

“What they have built is not enough and there are not enough spaces for the unaccompanied children”. The lawyer, Julie Bonnier, argued that the Jungle offered medical and psychological support, with its churches, medical centre, schools and other structures.

“You’re basically going to scatter a lot of people”, said Maya Konforti of the association Auberge des Migrants. They are going to go to another camp, in Dunkirk or elsewhere, where conditions are even worse.

“To suggest that there could be… a flow of migrants to the Belgian border has simply no basis in reality”, Cazeneuve said of the French plan to rehouse migrants from Calais’s “Jungle” camp – a move that could start this week.

She said it was a “sensitive situation” that required “necessary firmness”.

“Everyone agrees that life conditions in the “Jungle” are not ideal”.

Those living in the “Jungle” – migrants and refugees mainly from the Middle East and Africa – came to Calais in the hopes of reaching the UK. Over the last six months we have seen an army of United Kingdom and European volunteers working in Calais.

Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon said most of the migrants now in Calais eventually wanted to get to Britain and failing that, would use Belgium as a transit route via the port of Zeebrugge.

An estimated 4,000 migrants and refugees from countries including Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Iraq are now based within the Jungle.

Moving the migrants out of the mini-slum will be the most dramatic step by the French state to end Calais’ years-long migrant problem, which has transformed the northern city into a high-security tension point, fueled far-right sentiment and defied British and French government efforts to make it go away.

It came after 145 celebrities including Idris Elba, Helena Bonham Carter and Benedict Cumberbatch wrote an open letter calling on Prime Minister David Cameron to help save children based there.