Calais 'Jungle' to be dismantled
Ahead of planned blockade, interior minister says France will move thousands of migrants as it seeks to 'unblock Calais'
THE 'Jungle' refugee camp in Calais, which is home to thousands of refugees and migrants, is to be dismantled, interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve has said.
He told regional newspaper Nord Littoral that he would dismantle the site in stages 'to unblock Calais', while creating accommodation elsewhere for those the operation displaces. Places for another 8,000 asylum seekers will be created this year and thousands more in 2017, he added.
Meanwhile, 200 more police officers will be added to the 1,900 currently working to maintain law and order in and around the port town - and to prevent migrants smuggling themselves onto transport bound for the UK.
Mr Cazeneuve's comments come ahead of a planned blockade of the port on Monday by lorry drivers, shopkeepers and farmers calling for the demolition of the camp.
Since October 2015, more than 5,000 asylum seekers have left the northern town for 161 special centres set up around France.
Despite this, authorities say about that the population of the camp has risen sharply in recent months to about 7,000 people. Some aid charities operating there say the figure is closer to 10,000.
