2,000 migrants face eviction from ‘Calais jungle’: Charity
Aid groups say that some 2,000 refugees - including over 300 women and 60 kids - will have to be moved within the next three days
Young migrants or refugees walk with a stroller on 29 December in a camp in Grande-Synthe, some 30km from Calais (AFP)
Monday 11 January 2016
Aid groups say that some 2,000 refugees - including over 300 women and 60 kids - will have to be moved within the next three days
Young migrants or refugees walk with a stroller on 29 December in a camp in Grande-Synthe, some 30km from Calais (AFP) 
Monday 11 January 2016
French authorities may bulldoze a portion of the so-called Calais Jungle which is home to some 2,000 refugees, a charity warned on Monday.
Help Refugees' said that French authorities had given them three days to move the refugees and migrants - including over 300 women and 60 children - adding that the a much larger area than initially thought would have to be cleared.
The charity said that 500 shelters were at risk of demolition and that given the timescale and resources available, aid organisations would only be able to move 10 percent of the shelters in time, calling this a “huge waste of resources, supplies, and time”.
However, the charity then said that negotiations were now happening and that they still hoped that a "sensible resolution" could be found.
"We are devastated to find out we have less than three days to relocate the residents, having been promised much longer by the authorities,” Philli Boyle, Help Refugees' Calais manager said in a statement before the last-minute negotiations were announced.
“Our focus will be on safely moving the women and children, but we will do everything we can to help as many of the people as possible in the limited time we have.
“We had really hoped to be able to move people (many of whom are already so traumatised by their experiences in the countries they have fled from) in a way that would maintain as much dignity as possible, and reduce stress, however this has now been taken out of our hands given the incredibly limited time we now have,” he added.
This is shocking and spiteful. Twice as much to be bulldozed in half the time orig communicated #calais twitter.com/helprefugeesuk…
The announcement came the same day that a new section of the camp, set to house 1,000 people, was opened by aid groups, with people being relocated from tents to containers although the new scheme will only be able to house a fraction of those in need.
There are currently believed to be between 4,000-7,000 migrants in the Calais camp and a further 2,500 in the Grande-Synthe camp in Dunkirk.
On Monday, the government said that they would work to set up suitable shelters for 2,500 migrants - including 120 women and 200 children.
Both French and English authorities have been criticised by aid groups for years for failing to come to grips with the crisis, but they have also come under fire for not doing enough to provide security in the area, with clashes increasingly breaking out with police.
On Sunday night, Xavier Bertrand, the president of the Nord Pas-de-Calais Picardie region, called on the government to send in the army to help the police working around Calais and Dunkirk, home to the largest migrant camps.
He said that the police were tired of being "harassed every night" and needed additional support.
