- Title: FRANCE: French Immigration Minister visits remains of Calais jungle
- Date: 23rd September 2009
- Summary: CALAIS, FRANCE (SEPTEMBER 22, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BULLDOZERS DEMOLISHING TENTS VARIOUS OF TREES BEING CUT DOWN VARIOUS OF ARRIVAL OF IMMIGRATION MINISTER ERIC BESSON VARIOUS OF BESSON GOING THROUGH REMAINS OF CAMP VARIOUS OF BULLDOZERS RAZING CAMP CLOSEUP OF SHOES LEFT IN TENT VARIOUS OF BESSON INSPECTING CAMP POLICE STANDING IN FRONT OF REMAINS OF MAKESHIFT TENT VARIOUS OF DEBRIS IN CAMP
- Embargoed: 8th October 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: France
- Country: France
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVAP07TH9CXCZ1DU5J3LLZD1PLY
- Story Text: Soon after a dawn raid by several hundred riot police on the makeshift camp that housed mainly Afghan migrants, Immigration Minister Luc Besson toured the area and said the so-called Calais 'Jungle' was now closed.
The detained adults had been taken to six locations in the Calais area for individual interviews in which their rights, which include seeking political asylum in France, would be explained to them.
Those who refused the solutions that were being proposed to them would be forcibly expelled from France, Besson told a news conference.
Besson said that special care had been taken in the dismantling of an improvised mosque at the camp.
Besson warned that the dismantling of the jungle was not the end of the struggle against illegal immigration but called for more work to be done on a joint European immigration policy and border guards force.
Generations of migrants have been through the camp since it sprang up following the 2002 closure of an official refugee camp in nearby Sangatte. First the Albanians, Kosovars and then the Iraqis and t he Afghans. All made it their staging post in their quest for a better life in the United Kingdom.
The French government says it was a den of crime and a nest of people smugglers. Local humanitarian groups said the unofficial camp was the sole refuge for the persecuted and the oppressed.
The dismantling of the camp is likely to please the British government, which for years has been concerned about the build-up of migrants and refugees who then smuggle onto lorries bound for the United Kingdom. Some British politicians have accused the French of not doing enough to stem the migrants.
Critics of the operation said it merely moved the problem somewhere else. Many of the refugees have said they would remain in the area and would never give up their quest to cross the Channel. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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