http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/french-authorities-begin-demolition-calais-jungle-camp-1546787390
French authorities begin demolition of Calais 'jungle' camp
#Refugees
Residents and activists were reportedly staging sit-in and refusing to leave makeshift homes
Alex MacDonald
Monday 29 February 2016 11:29 UTC
French security forces on Monday began demolishing the “Jungle” camp in Calais, which is currently home to about 4,000 people.
Scores of riots police stood by as bulldozers cleared the makeshift living spaces.
A water cannon was also deployed though it has not so far been used.
According to the Good Chance theatre group, which works in the camp, police were “blocking entry” to activists.
"No volunteers access," it said in a tweet. "People removed from houses. Police blocking entry. This is what they call a 'soft demolition'."
However, the Calais Solidarity group that people were still resisting the evacuation.
“Police fenced off areas in South part of #CalaisJungle, near Chemin des Dunes,” the group said on Twitter.
“People are sitting on the roofs of their houses to resist.”
A French court ruled on Thursday that the living spaces could be destroyed but not common spaces like mosques, schools and a library.
Le Monde reported Judge Valerie Quemener as saying the eviction was "carefully arranged and meets a real need.”
The current Calais jungle has existed in the port town of Calais since around 2009 and has long housed refugees and migrants from Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia and elsewhere.
But mounting frustration among the local French populace and the national rise of the far-right Front Nationale has increased pressure for the camp to be dismantled.
The evacuees from the camp have been given a number of options by the French authorities - move into heated container accommodation in the north of the camp, move to similar accommodation elsewhere in the country or claim asylum.
Many residents of the camp have been unwilling to claim asylum, preferring to travel on to the UK either due to having family members there or due its perceived better job prospects and better social tolerance than France.
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Migrants 'bewildered and scared' as demolition begins at Jungle camp in Calais
By PRESS ASSOCIATION
PUBLISHED: 12:15 GMT, 29 February 2016 | UPDATED: 12:15 GMT, 29 February 2016
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-3469155/Migrants-bewildered-scared-demolition-begins-Jungle-camp-Calais.html
Received on Mon Feb 29 2016 - 07:23:08 EST