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France Clears ‘Jungle’ Camp at Calais, Dispersing Thousands of Migrants
‘We Are Ready to Leave’: France Clears Out the ‘Jungle’
(35 minutes later)
CALAIS, France — The migrants, mostly young men from Africa or Afghanistan, strode out of the squalid camp at a rapid pace, not looking behind them. Hundreds of them lined up in the cold for buses to take them to temporary housing all over France, as the government set in motion on Monday its plan to clear the sprawling migrant camp known as the “Jungle” once and for all.
CALAIS, France — Hundreds of migrants, mostly young men from Africa or Afghanistan, lined up in the cold on Monday for buses to take them to temporary housing all over France, as the government set in motion a plan in the port of Calais to clear the sprawling migrant camp known as the Jungle once and for all.
For migrants all over Europe, Calais is the hoped-for staging point for Britain’s presumed jobs-and-wealth Eldorado. For France’s government, the Jungle has developed into a political and humanitarian disaster.
On Monday, streams of migrants from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Sudan and other conflict-torn countries trucked down the camp’s trash-filled, muddy lanes in small groups, pushing or dragging donated suitcases, or toting knapsacks front and back.
The concentration of migrants had repeatedly disrupted traffic in and out of the Channel Tunnel linking France and Britain as they tried to smuggle themselves on cargo trucks.
But until this week, the French government had largely ignored the camp, hoping it would go away and leaving the migrants’ care mostly in the hands of benevolent associations. That neglect was no longer possible.
On Monday, streams of migrants from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Sudan and other conflict-torn countries trucked down the camp’s trash-filled, muddy lanes in small groups, pushing or dragging donated suitcases, or toting knapsacks front and back. One Afghan banged a drum, another carried a giant cricket bat, a third a guitar.
Some had suitcases on their heads; others simply walked out of the camp empty-handed, bundled up against the cold. Hundreds of journalists watched the operation.
Some had suitcases on their heads; others simply walked out of the camp empty-handed, bundled up against the cold. Hundreds of journalists watched the operation.
The squalid camp, growing and festering for over a year, has become a symbol of Europe’s faltering efforts to handle its migration crisis. At its recent peak, up to 10,000 lived there in shivering misery, and as many as 100 arrived each day after arduous journeys by foot, boat, truck and clandestine train rides across continents and seas.
One Afghan banged a drum and another carried a giant cricket bat. Some passed the time playing chess or strumming a guitar.
Before Monday’s operation, the population was 6,000 to 8,000. By the end of the day, the government announced that it had relocated 2,318 people.
The squalid camp, growing and festering for over a year, has become a symbol of Europe’s faltering efforts to handle its migration crisis. Before Monday’s operation, the camp’s population was 6,000 to 8,000.
Judging by the crowds on Monday, many of the migrants appeared set to shed their dreams of Britain and were as anxious to be rid of the camp as the government was. On Tuesday, French officials plan to start demolishing and clearing its flimsy shacks, fields of tents and piles of trash spread over 1.5 square miles.
The concentration of migrants had repeatedly disrupted traffic in and out of the Channel Tunnel as they tried to smuggle themselves on cargo trucks to Britain, their presumed jobs-and-wealth Eldorado.
While the clearing of the camp was peaceful, the police warned that they were expecting some resistance from activist groups, if not from the migrants themselves, when the demolition begins on Tuesday.
Judging by the crowds on Monday, many of the migrants appeared set to shed their dreams of Britain and were as anxious to be rid of the camp as the government was.
“The Jungle is no good,” said Abdullah Umar, 24, who is from Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region and hoped to apply for asylum in France. He was waiting in line on the road. “There are problems. Sometimes there’s fighting. And it’s cold.”
“It is a very bad situation here,” said Hassan Jibril, 35, a Sudanese man trying to keep himself warm in the Jungle’s warren of tents. “We are ready to leave.”
Mr. Umar added: “France is a good country. People from France gave me all these clothes.” He pointed to his new suitcase, which looked packed full.
Hassan Jibril, 35, another Sudanese man, trying to keep himself warm in the Jungle’s warren of tents, said, “We are ready to leave.”
He was wearing flip-flops in the 40-degree chill and heating some pots over an outdoor fire. “It is a very bad situation here,” he said. “You see that?” he said, pointing to a trash-filled puddle next to his tent. “If you stay here, you can die.”
Awaiting the migrants was a complicated plan, fine-tuned by French officials since late summer, to disperse them in waves of bus journeys to dozens of towns and villages all over France.
Awaiting the migrants was a complicated plan, fine-tuned by French officials since late summer, to disperse them in waves of bus journeys to dozens of towns and villages all over France.
Sixty buses will take 50 migrants each on the first day, 45 buses on Tuesday and 40 on Wednesday; each migrant will be given a choice between two French regions. (The Île-de-France region, which includes Paris, and the island of Corsica are not among the options.)
In the early-morning darkness on Monday, the buses were lined up for hundreds of yards along a side road in the barren industrial zone that is home to the Jungle.
Some of the towns and villages hosting these 451 reception centers — abandoned barracks, hospitals, disused government vacation camps — have been demonstrating against their arrival in recent weeks; but the migrants do not know that.
Some of the towns and villages hosting these 451 reception centers — abandoned barracks, hospitals, disused government vacation camps — have been demonstrating against their arrival in recent weeks; but the migrants do not know that.
The French government, anxious to deflect criticism from charities over the destruction of the Jungle, calls its plan a “humanitarian intervention,” insisting that it is moving forward for the migrants’ own good.
Some had clung to a hope that they might be able to leave for Britain by sneaking into one of the cargo trucks that use the Channel Tunnel, or even by walking through it. It was largely a false hope.
“The immense majority of migrants present at Calais are eligible for international protection,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement. It described their sojourn in the reception centers as a “respite” allowing them to “serenely envisage a request for asylum in France.” Some, however, will not be granted asylum and will be expelled.
The reality is that the increasing fortifications and tall fences around the Jungle and the mouth of the Channel Tunnel made it impossible for all but a lucky few to make it out of this northern port city that overlooks the Strait of Dover.
At the end of the line on Monday, the migrants jostled to get into a giant concrete hangar where officials were processing them inside four big blue tents — one for adults, one for families, one for minors and one for the “vulnerable” — leading to six yellow tents, one for each destination region. Outside, the migrants pushed against a line of wary-looking police officers, more than 1,000 of them, sent in by the government.
Not all seemed disappointed to stay in France. “France is a good country,” said Abdullah Umar, 24, who is from Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region.
Crowds of teenagers and children, processed separately from the adults, bore out the charities’ contention, made repeatedly in recent weeks, that the camp has been home to over 1,000 unaccompanied minors, many of them Afghans.
He was thankful for the many donated clothes he had received and, it seemed, to leave the camp. “The Jungle is no good,” he said. “There are problems. Sometimes there’s fighting. And it’s cold.”
Many of these minors have relatives in Britain and are eligible for asylum, the destination of choice. France has been locked in a fierce negotiation with the British government to take the children in; about 200 left in the last week.
The French government, anxious to deflect criticism from charities over the destruction of the camp, calls its plan a “humanitarian intervention,” insisting that it is moving forward for the migrants’ own good.
The humanitarian groups pressed the government to delay the Jungle’s shutdown, but there was little sentimentality among its residents over its demise. On Sunday evening, the Jungle’s last night, crowds of young Eritrean men moved down its principal lane, shouting in English: “Jungle is finished! Jungle is over.”
“The immense majority of migrants present at Calais are eligible for international protection,” the Interior Ministry said. Some, however, will not be granted asylum and will be expelled.
Vendors engaged in frantic pre-destruction sales, laying out their wares — old running shoes, toothpicks, dishwashing liquid, Afghan flags — at bargain rates.
The humanitarian groups pressed the government to delay the Jungle’s shutdown, but there was little sentimentality among its residents over its demise.
By Monday morning the beaten-up shacks housing the camp’s well-established restaurants, mostly Afghan, and shops were vacant, burned-out and broken-down shells.
On Sunday evening, crowds of young Eritrean men moved down its principal lane, shouting in English: “Jungle is finished! Jungle is over!”
“Where am I going now?” said an Afghan man, Nasir Maruf. He was disturbed by the Jungle’s imminent destruction. “I’m still waiting for the U.K.”
But the reality was that few migrants made it out of this northern port city that overlooks the Strait of Dover. Some clung to a hope that they might be able to leave for Britain by sneaking into one of the cargo trucks that use the Channel Tunnel, or even by walking through it. It was largely a false hope.
More representative was the resignation of a Sudanese man waiting in the line to be processed on Monday. “This Jungle, you have got to make a solution. Now, the border is closed,” said Ahmed Adam, 24, a plastics factory worker from Khartoum, referring to Britain’s determination to block the migrants.
“France is safety,” he said. “Khartoum is not safety.”
