Police fire teargas at migrants who
threw stones, and shelters set on fire, after authorities dismantle
dozens of makeshift shacks in refugee camp
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EU refugee crisis Teargas fired at refugees on Greece-Macedonia border
Clashes as French authorities pull down homes in Calais 'Jungle' camp
Police fire teargas at migrants who threw stones, and shelters set on fire, after authorities dismantle dozens of makeshift shacks in refugee camp
Current Time 0:00/Duration Time 0:27French authorities continue to dismantle the ‘Jungle’ camp in Calais – video Clashes have broken out in Calais between migrants and riot police after authorities began to dismantle parts of the sprawling refugee camp known as the Jungle.
A British refugee aid group said it believed the homes of up to 200 people of the approximately 3,500 living in the camp had been demolished so far, and that a number of other makeshift shelters were burning.
Some homes appeared to have been set alight by the heat of teargas canisters fired at crowds by riot police, said a spokeswoman for the British volunteer group Help Refugees, while some residents seem to have set others on fire in protest.
“Police are still periodically firing teargas to keep back the crowds,” she said. “We can see six homes on fire now.”
Video footage from a volunteer inside the camp showed residents running away from clouds of teargas. Reuters said police fired teargas at about 150 migrants and activists who threw stones, and at least three shelters were on fire.
The work began calmly in the early morning, with orange-vested work crews painstakingly dismantling several dozen makeshift wood-and-tarpaulin shacks by hand before two diggers loaded the debris into large trucks. Police in riot gear shielded the work, and initially there were no reports of unrest beyond a report of one British activist being arrested.
Current Time 0:00/Duration Time 0:28Watch: shelters set on fire as refugees and police clash. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images
The prefecture of Calais, which late last week won a court battle allowing demolition to begin, wants to clear large parts of the southern part of the site, on dune land just west of the town’s busy docks. It adjoins the road leading to the ferry terminal, a draw for migrants seeking to smuggle themselves on to trucks bound for the UK.
Volunteer groups have warned that moving people from the camp will do little but disperse many elsewhere around Calais. A UK-based group, the Refugee Rights Data Project, said that of 460 Jungle residents asked what they would do if the camp was dismantled, 80% said they would remain in Calais or move to a more basic refugee encampment in nearby Dunkirk.
The study suggested authorities’ plans to evict people “is unlikely to provide a viable solution to the current humanitarian crisis on our doorstep”, said Marta Welander, founder of the Refugee Rights Data Project.
Of those who lost their homes on Monday, some had moved into space elsewhere in the camp, Help Refugees said, while others had been seen carrying sleeping bags into Calais.
“We don’t really know yet what people will do, but it seems likely some will just be dispersed to other areas around Calais,” a spokeswoman said.
Clare Moseley, of Care4Calais, another British volunteer group, said prefecture officials arrived at the camp at 7am and gave residents an hour’s notice to leave or face arrest. “The police presence is massive,” she said. “They have the whole area cordoned off.” French media reported that about 40 vans of riot police were in position near the site.
Workmen start to dismantle a section of the camp. Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
Help Refugees said some of its volunteers had been blocked on Monday morning from entering the camp, home to refugees and migrants from countries including Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan and Egypt.
A spokeswoman said the demolition began in a section of the camp with a mostly Iranian population: “People were being told they had to leave,” she said, “otherwise they would be arrested. A lot of people seemed quite confused.”
A spokesman for the Calais prefecture denied there was a vast new clearing operation under way. He said French officials from asylum agencies and other state agencies would continue to go from tent to tent to talk to talk to migrants about their options, as they had done last week.
He said: “There is a reinforced police presence today to allow those officials to enter and talk to people. But this is a gradual process which will take place over several days and weeks. There will be no bulldozers.”
Fabienne Buccio, the head of the Calais prefecture, said three-quarters of the homes in the southern part of the camp were now empty after officials encouraged residents to leave over recent days.
Police were needed, she said, in case what she described as “extremists” tried to stop migrants accepting offers of new accommodation or buses to centres elsewhere in France.
French authorities said earlier this month they intended to bulldoze half of the main camp, warning between 800 and 1,000 migrants and refugees to leave a seven-hectare southern section of the site. Buccio previously told Le Monde she intended to reduce the size of the camp by about half.
An anti-riot policeman throws a tear gas grenade during the dismantling of the camp Photograph: Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images
Care4Calais is among the groups that have opposed the dismantlement plans in the French courts. A legal appeal against last Thursday’s ruling had been lodged last week, Moseley said, and was expected to be heard soon.
A Help Refugees spokeswoman said Monday’s work did appear to be the start of wider clearance. “That’s what it’s looking like. They did say it’s going to be slow and respectful, giving people options, and I suppose they have in a way. But at the same time they’re not giving people access to information. One person was seen being given their options as their shelter was being dismantled, so the respect they talked about last week isn’t really happening.”
While some residents have moved into shipping container shelters and a small number have left on state-provided coaches to centres elsewhere in France, many more than the official estimate of 800 to 1,000 people remained inside the main camp. A census carried out by two charities recorded 3,455 people living there, with one group telling the Guardian this week that this included 445 children, of whom 305 were unaccompanied.
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