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Migrants quit French Calais "jungle" in second day of evacuation

Xinhua, October 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

In the second day of the French effort to clear the sprawling migrant camp in the northern port city of Calais, 1,056 people quit the "jungle" to be resettled in centers across the country, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Tuesday.

"This morning, 1,056 people have been sheltered, with 800 having left Calais and 400 minors having been put in temporary centres in Calais," Cazeneuve told lawmakers.

On Monday, 2,318 camp residents, representing more than a third of the total number of migrants, left Calais by bus to be relocated in reception centres across the country, the minister added.

"The (evacuation) is a humanitarian operation which is complicated, difficult and requires the efforts of all," the French minister said.

Britain had agreed to take charge of the minors who have relatives in the United Kingdom and to allocate 40 million euros (43.55 million U.S. dollars) to help clear the "jungle", he added.

According to the French government, about 6,500 migrants live in rickety tents in Calais at the French end of the Channel Tunnel, while they attempt to board lorries and trains heading to Britain to seek a better life.

As hopes to reach the United Kingdom are dashed, they accepted being relocated in France after spending 18 months in the "jungle", widely considered as the symbol of Europe's failure to handle the migrant crisis.

Work to dismantle the camp has started under the surveillance of about 200 riot police officers.

"The migrants have known for a long time this is going to happen," Calais Prefect Fabienne Buccio was quoted by local media as saying.

The French government pledged 9,000 places will be made available at 460 "reception and orientation centres" for the refugees who will be divided into groups of 40 to 50 people for a limited period of three to four months.

The migrants who meet the asylum criteria will stay in France, while those who do not will be sent home.

Millions of migrants from Africa and the Middle East have fled war and poverty in their native countries, leading to an unprecedented migrant crisis in Europe. Endi