Adam Sage in Paris
French riot police are on standby to evacuate migrants from a warehouse in Calais after ministers expressed concern that the building could become a base for those trying to reach Britain.
[timesonline.co.uk] Up to 90 migrants, mainly Afghan, broke through a police cordon to gain access to the warehouse, which was rented by left-wing activists opposed to the French Government’s immigration policies.
However, many left in search of food today and were prevented from regaining the building afterwards. Only a dozen or so migrants were still in the warehouse, according to locals.
The incident occurred less than five months after officials ordered the destruction of The Jungle, a makeshift camp in Calais that was home to hundreds of migrants hoping to cross the Channel to Britain.
In a statement, Eric Besson, the Immigration Minister, said that he would not let the warehouse become a “new Jungle … serving as a rear base for human-trafficking gangs near the port of Calais.
He said that he would “put an end to an unacceptable situation“, suggesting that he was ready to order an evacuation by the 75 or so riot police stationed around the building.
Natacha Bouchart, the Mayor of Calais, called on the Government to expel the migrants within 48 hours, and said that they had only got into the building because of a “flaw“ in policing.
Officials had known that No Border, a hard-left migrant-support group, was planning to use the building as a shelter and had ordered police to seal off the road that led to it.
But officers let the migrants through yesterday after activists said that they were holding a party and would clear the warehouse when it had finished.
Instead, the migrants spent the night there.
The stand-off comes with French officials hailing the destruction of the Jungle as a decisive blow in the struggle against the people-trafficking networks that transport migrants from Calais to Dover.
They say that the number of migrants in the French port has fallen from more than 1,000 to fewer than 300 since the operation in September.
“There has been a considerable improvement and the numbers we now have are much more manageable,“ said Mrs Bouchart.
Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7018328.ece
