Paris first centre opens door to receive refugees
Xinhua, November 10, 2016 Adjust font size:
A refugee centre opened in Paris on Thursday to welcome hundreds of refugees as part of a plan to better take in thousands of asylum seekers who have been camping for months in French capital streets, Paris city hall announced.
With an initial capacity of 400 people, the refugees shelter is located in an unused railway yard in the 18th district of Paris, it said in a statement.
The centre is reserved for men and will receive 80 people a day, according to local authorities.
The shelter opening came a week after police transferred 3,852 refugees who have been camping outside Stalingrad Metro Station, north Paris.
A second centre will welcome 350 women, children and vulnerable individuals. It will be opened by the year-end in the southern Paris suburb of Ivry-sur-Seine.
The French government pledged that 9,000 places will be made available at 460 reception and orientation centres for refugees. They will be dispersed into groups of 40 to 50 people for a limited period between three and four months.
The migrants who fit the asylum criteria will stay in France while those who do not will be repatriate.
Wars, political instability and poverty in many Mideast and African countries forced thousands of people to displace and seek better life in Europe, leading to an unprecedented migrant crisis. Endit