- Title: Workers wielding sledgehammers begin to tear down Calais 'Jungle'
- Date: 25th October 2016
- Summary: CALAIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 25, 2016) (REUTERS) WORKMEN STANDING BY "JUNGLE" MIGRANT CAMP VARIOUS OF DIGGERS MOVING IN VARIOUS OF WORKMEN TEARING DOOR OFF SHELTER VARIOUS OF WORKMEN TEARING COVER OFF SHELTER WORKMAN REMOVING CHAIRS DETRITUS BEING DROPPED INTO SKIP VARIOUS OF POLICEMEN ON GUARD IN JUNGLE VARIOUS OF WORKMEN CLEARING AWAY WRECKAGE FROM FORMER SHELTER WORKMEN CLEARING / MIGRANT CAMP WITH POLICE STANDING BY VARIOUS OF CARAVANS IN CAMP VARIOUS OF WORKMEN TEARING DOWN SHELTER VARIOUS OF POLICEMEN MOVING IN POLICEMEN TALKING TO REGIONAL PREFECT, FABIENNE BUCCIO POLICEMEN MARCHING ALONG ROAD (SOUNDBITE) (French) REGIONAL PREFECT, FABIENNE BUCCIO, SAYING: "Today I think we're taking an important step. We're going to begin clearing the camp. It'll contribute to helping those migrants who are still hesitating, they really need to understand that the camp is finished, this desperate situation is finished." MIGRANTS LEAVING SHELTER UNDER POLICE SUPERVISION VARIOUS OF FIRE BURNING OVER CONTAINERS VARIOUS OF FIRE BURNING IN CAMP
- Embargoed: 9th November 2016 15:58
- Keywords: France Calais camp Jungle evacuation demolition Fabienne Buccio migrants refugees fire
- Location: CALAIS, FRANCE
- City: CALAIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00155I8PC7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: French authorities began tearing down the makeshift shelters that housed thousands of residents of the Calais "Jungle" migrant camp on Tuesday (October 25).
Officials said they were unwilling to stoke tensions by razing the camp with bulldozers, sending instead teams of workmen equipped with sledgehammers and crowbars to take the cabins apart by hand.
Units of riot police moved in to secure the area before the demolition, which began at the camp's southern corner.
By midday on Tuesday over 3,000 migrants had been rehoused in accommodation across France via a registration centre outside the camp, officials said.
Prefect Fabienne Buccio, who is in charge of security in the local area, told Reuters that the destruction marked an important step.
"Today I think we're taking an important step. We're going to begin clearing the camp. It'll contribute to helping those migrants who are still hesitating, they really need to understand that the camp is finished, this desperate situation is finished," she said.
Teams are still touring the camp with leaflets in different languages explaining to the migrants the process of evacuation.
Groups of young men who have fled war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, kept warm around piles of burning rubbish in the camp, a filthy expanse that has become a symbol of Europe's failed migration policies.
At least 6,500 migrants had been living in the camp before the demolition started on Monday morning. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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