‘Jungle’ on fire as work to clear camp wraps up
Print Edition
FRENCH authorities yesterday finished clearing the “Jungle,” a squalid shanty town built outside the port of Calais by thousands of migrants desperately seeking a passage to Britain.
The operation mostly passed off peacefully, although some tents and shelters were torched in a last gesture of defiance as the refugees saw their hopes of a new life in Britain vanish.
“This is the end of the Jungle,” Calais’ regional prefect Fabienne Buccio said. “Mission accomplished.”
Riot police spread out around the camp as fire trucks moved in to put out some of the fires, which sent plumes of smoke into the sky.
The flames destroyed many of the tents and makeshift shelters that had housed thousands of migrants and refugees, including children.
Migrants and officials alike said the fires were set deliberately, while exploding gas cylinders caused them to spread.
Police said four migrants had been arrested.
An Eritrean teenager named Yones said Afghans had started the fires.
“They are angry because the Jungle is finished and they cannot go to England,” Yones said.
Many migrants could be seen taking selfies with the flames in the background.
“You have to leave,” an aid worker shouted at some migrants. “You have these gas cylinders in your caravan, get them out!”
Scores of people escaped to an area just outside the camp. Police barred them from going back in and they were seen on the road, some carrying backpacks and suitcases.
Around half of the camp’s estimated population of 6,000 to 8,000 migrants have been transferred out since Monday, boarding buses to centers around France.
Nearly 800 unaccompanied children — whose fate has been a key cause of concern on both sides of the Channel — have been moved to shipping containers converted into temporary shelters in the Jungle, according to the interior ministry.
Meanwhile, workers in orange overalls ramped up demolition operations, tearing down tents and makeshift shelters.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Tuesday that all children “with proven family links in Britain” would eventually be transferred there.
He said London had committed to reviewing all other cases where it was “in the child’s interest” to settle across the Channel.
On Monday, British interior minister Amber Rudd pledged to bring eligible children from France to Britain “as quickly and as safely as possible,” without specifying numbers.
The head of Save the Children has called for a smooth process to ensure their safety.
“It’s very scary, I think, for kids particularly ... This is where children have been living for weeks and months in some cases,” Carolyn Miles told reporters in New York.
Britain took in around 200 teenagers in the week before the clearance began, with the transfers resuming on Tuesday after a pause on Monday.
Dozens of mainly Eritrean and Ethiopian women, who make up a tiny minority at the Jungle, staged a protest yesterday to demand attention to their own needs.
“Underage, overage, we are the same!” they shouted.
The Jungle has for years been a launchpad for migrants attempting to make it to Britain by sneaking onto lorries or jumping onto trains heading across the Channel.
Calais police have battled near-nightly attempts by migrants to reach Britain over the past year.
Authorities have said those who agree to be moved can seek asylum in France. Those who refuse risk deportation.
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