Bulldozers start demolishing French migrant camp

Just as the Calais Jungle migrant camp is emptied, torched, and demolished, there are reports that new migrants are arriving all the time to join the thousands dispersed by the clearance, all of whom determined to make it to the United Kingdom.

“Police rounded up some of the children and arrested them for not having wristbands, and said they were a criminal threat”, Stevens, a spokeswoman for the charity, said, highlighting an ongoing lack of certainty.

By clearing it and sending the majority of its 6,000 to 8,000 residents to processing centres around France, the authorities hope to erase what had become a symbol of Europe’s failure to deal with its migrant crisis.

At least 200 minors have no place to sleep while 30 are temporarily staying in a warehouse but their fate remains unclear. “This is the best way for them to be protected”.

Britain refused to accept the vast majority of them – apart from a number of unaccompanied child migrants now being processed separately – and high fences were built to keep them away from the port traffic, but still they came. In the very big hangar where children and adults go to be registered, minors were selected from the adult population exclusively on the basis of physical appearance.

They are said to be becoming increasingly desperate.

That includes unaccompanied minors being housed in heated containers in the camp, apparently untouched by the blazes.

“Not only this but the containers were full, so you had this situation where children were running away from fire, couldn’t register and the containers were full – so there was literally nowhere for children to go”. Those whose papers are not in order risk being sent home.

She said: “We do not want to create a vacuum”.

One official told AFP that 10 buses were on standby to take those left to shelter. Today is the end of the jungle.

The Calais prefecture said that as of noon on Tuesday 656 additional migrants had boarded buses from Calais to reception centers in other parts of France.

“The local authorities have unbelievably labeled the clearance as “mission accomplished” while children are suffering due to their wholly inadequate preparation and heavy-handed execution”, according to Calais Action.

Muhammad, a 16-year-old Egyptian migrant, told CNN he had slept rough because he was not registered by the authorities, a process that would have allowed him to sleep inside shipping containers at the site.

“They claim benefits and housing, and all we get is the British-funded wall and fences”.

He added that London had committed to reviewing all other cases where it was “in the child’s interest” to settle across the Channel.

They ranged in age from 13 to 17 years, she said. “No one cares about us”. Basing the process of selection on appearance alone is simply not acceptable for young people who are exhausted after months on the road a long way from home.These failings are compounded by the lack of reliable information given to minors in the week before dismantling of the camp began.

It said: “The situation for children in Calais after the demolition is the worst it’s ever been”. “Unregistered minors are wandering around, lost, wondering where they will spend the night”, said Dr Samuel Hanryon, a spokesman for Doctors Without Borders.

The Interior Ministry says the registration office for those wishing to go to other centers in France is now officially closed, and that anyone caught in the area will be arrested and taken to retention centers, pending deportation.

A CNN team at The Jungle on Thursday morning also said serious demolition was underway, with three diggers visible alongside a dozen men in hard hats and orange jumpsuits.

She said: “There is no clear solution to this at the moment”.

Almost 5,600 people have been moved to shelters and reception centers since Monday, the French government states.

The interior ministry said on Wednesday that almost 5 600 migrants had been taken into shelters around France or accepted into Britain – out of the 6 400 estimated by authorities to have been living in the camp up until this week.