- Title: France's Interior Minister says over one third of Calais camp has been cleared
- Date: 24th October 2016
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 24, 2016) (REUTERS) FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER, BERNARD CAZENEUVE, ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER, BERNARD CAZENEUVE, SAYING: "Tonight, 2,318 migrants have been housed. 1,918 adults left Calais, boarding 45 buses heading towards 80 welcome centres located in 11 of France's regions. And 400 minors have been directed towards and also housed at the temporary centre, where they will wait for their cases to be studied, joining the 200 minors already there. There are therefore 600 isolated minors who are safe within the temporary reception centre (CAP). The first step has been taken today, it was done calmly and under control and we must of course continue." CAZENEUVE ADDRESSING NEWS BRIEFING (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER, BERNARD CAZENEUVE, SAYING: "I can also announce tonight that we managed to reach an agreement on these two points: firstly, a new financial aid of 40 million euros for Calais will be allocated by the British. Secondly, the United Kingdom will welcome every isolated minor in Calais whose family ties in Britain have been established, and even beyond that as British authorities are committed to studying cases of unaccompanied minors who do have any family ties but who have a high interest in joining the country. Since the agreements made in Amiens, almost 300 minors have crossed the Channel, including 200 over this past week." EXTERIOR OF FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTRY CALAIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 24, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS QUEUING POLICE FILTERING MIGRANTS MIGRANTS QUEUING POLICE TALKING TO EACH OTHER BUS MIGRANTS BOARDING BUS HANGAR, BUS PARKED MIGRANTS BOARDING BUS BUS LEAVING
- Embargoed: 8th November 2016 18:53
- Keywords: migrants Calais Jungle France Britain Cazeneuve
- Location: PARIS AND CALAIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS AND CALAIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00155D83EV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:France has cleared over one third of the Calais "Jungle" camp inhabitants, the country's Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced on Monday (October 24).
French authorities began clearing the sprawling "Jungle" migrant camp near Calais on Monday as many who had travelled far and camped for months in the dunes gave up on their dreams of reaching Britain, a tantalisingly short sea crossing away.
By the evening some 2,318 - over one third of its inhabitants - had been rehoused away from the squalid shanty-town outside the port city on France's northern coast for reception centres across the country, Cazeneuve said.
"Tonight, 2,318 migrants have been housed. 1,918 adults left Calais, boarding 45 buses heading towards 80 welcome centres located in 11 of France's regions. And 400 minors have been directed towards and also housed at the temporary centre, where they will wait for their cases to be studied, joining the 200 minors already there. There are therefore 600 isolated minors who are safe within the temporary reception centre (CAP). The first step has been taken today, it was done calmly and under control and we must of course continue," he told a news conference in Paris.
French officials celebrated the peaceful start to the attempt to dismantle the camp, which has become a symbol of Europe's failure to respond to the migration crisis as member states squabble over who should take in those fleeing war and poverty.
But some aid workers warned that the trouble overnight, when some migrants burned toilet blocks and threw stones at riot police in protest at the camp's closure, indicated tensions could escalate.
France's Socialist government says it is closing the camp, home to 6,500 migrants, on humanitarian grounds. It plans to relocate them to 450 centres across France.
As the process in Calais began, the fate of about 1,300 unaccompanied child migrants remained uncertain. Cazeneuve urged Britain last week to step up efforts to identify and resettle child migrants, and said on Monday the two countries had come to an agreement on handling minors and on financial aid.
"I can also announce tonight that we managed to reach an agreement on these two points: firstly, a new financial aid of 40 million euros for Calais will be allocated by the British. Secondly, the United Kingdom will welcome every isolated minor in Calais whose family ties in Britain have been established, and even beyond that as British authorities are committed to studying cases of unaccompanied minors who do have any family ties but who have a high interest in joining the country. Since the agreements made in Amiens, almost 300 minors have crossed the Channel, including 200 over this past week," he said.
Many of the migrants are from countries such as Afghanistan, Syria and Eritrea and had wanted to reach Britain, which is connected to France by a rail tunnel and visible from Calais on a clear day. Some had wished to join up with relatives already there and most had planned to seek work, believing that jobs are more plentiful than in France.
Britain, however, bars most of them on the basis of European Union rules requiring them to seek asylum in the first member states they set foot in. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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