Refugees can be cleared from Jungle, French court decides

A French judge ruled on Thursday that half of the refugee camp in Calais, known as the Jungle, could be destroyed, except for places of worship, schools and a few communal buildings.

Last week, officials set migrants a deadline of 8pm on Tuesday to leave the camp but it was later postponed following fears over the number of people being displaced.

Authorities said they will increase daily efforts to move uprooted migrants into a container camp set up last month in the northern sector and encourage them to go to a temporary welcome centers where they can reconsider their plans and eventually apply for asylum in France. Like other critics, he said there are not enough available places to house the uprooted.

A group of humanitarian associations had asked that the state expulsion order for a large swath of the camp be postponed.

The letter also called on the government to allow those children in the camp who have family in the United Kingdom to be reunited with them “with immediate effect”.

Cazeneuve criticised the Belgian move as “odd”, saying it had not been notified in advance and he did not think moving migrants out of the squalid camp would prompt many to move north along the Channel coast to Belgian ports.

Caroline Anning from Save The Children said that the charity is incredibly “disappointed” and hopes that the demolition does not start quite yet.

Belgian interior minister Jan Jambon said it was temporarily suspending the Schengen agreement on free movement to deal with people leaving the camp – some 20 miles from its border.

“If they go ahead with the bulldozing it will be a bad waste”, Moseley had said.

At the weekend, actor Jude Law and singer Tom Odell were among celebrities who took to the stage at the camp to raise the plight of refugees.

They said: “We are shocked that this verdict will strip refugees of their homes once again without adequate alternative provisions”.

The people from the southern part of the camp will be dispersed withing France, but will effectively be made homeless. “These measures will not help one jot to deal with the issue”.

However, British hauliers welcomed the judgment.

But sceptics say the bid to end an embarrassing chapter in Europe’s migrant crisis is not over, warning that many migrants will simply scatter along the northern coast. Mr Cazeneuve said the very idea of Calais migrants heading for Belgium “doesn’t correspond to reality”.

FTA officials said a solution needed to be found to protect the £89 billion worth of United Kingdom trade which passes through the cross-Channel ports annually.