French police evacuate migrant camp in Paris

French police on Friday evacuated thousands of migrants from where they were camped outside Stalingrad Metro Station, north Paris, according to Ile-de-France prefecture.

Regional authorities cleared the migrant camp in the French capital where flows of refugees had increased in the past week after officials had removed the Calais "jungle" in northern France last week.

Earlier on Friday, 3,852 people were transferred to 78 shelters across Paris and its suburbs, the regional prefecture said in a statement.

According to Paris police, 600 police officers were deployed to remove tents and makeshift shelters where migrants, mainly from from Sudan, Libya, Syria and Somalia, had been sleeping for months.

"We have places to receive everyone...It's going well," housing minister Emmanuelle Cosse was quoted as saying in Le Point magazine.

"There are a lot of newcomers. It is essential that we shelter them. The aim is that these people are relocated in reception centers as quickly as possible," she added.

In September, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo pledged to open two centers for refugees by year-end as part of a plan to tackle camping in the capital's streets and better receive thousands of asylum seekers who had fled war and poverty in their native countries.

The French government pledged that 9,000 places would be made available at 460 reception and orientation centers for refugees. They are to be dispersed into groups of 40 to 50 people for a limited period between three and four months.

Migrants who fit the asylum criteria will stay in France while those who do not will be repatriated. Endit