Calais ‘Jungle’ empties as demolition crews move in

Calais, France — Workers began demolishing the notorious Calais “Jungle” camp on Tuesday as a second batch of migrants boarded buses under a massive operation to clear the squalid settlement. More than 1,900 left the slum on Monday, ahead of work to tear down the makeshift shelters and eateries in the camp that has become a symbol of Europe’s refugee crisis. Some 400 youngsters are being provisionally housed in shipping containers in a part of the Jungle where families had been living, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Monday. An estimated 6,000-8,000 people, mainly Afghans, Sudanese and Eritreans, have been living in dire conditions in one of Europe’s largest shantytowns in the hope of sneaking into Britain. Early Tuesday, scores of minors awaited their turn to be interviewed by French and British officials. Among them was Alaa, a 17-year-old from Iraq’s second city Mosul, who said he fled his country with his 25-year-old brother when Daesh (the so-called IS) launched its offensive into northern Iraq in 2014. “We had no choice but to flee,” he said. “If they want to kill you they kill you.” But life in the Jungle has been “really horrible,” he said. “I had my phone stolen, I was beaten, I was threatened.” His brother managed to sneak into Britain and join an uncle there, but Alaa stayed back because “it was far too frightening and dangerous.” Cazeneuve said all unaccompanied minors “with proven family links in Great Britain” would eventually be transferred across the Channel. Britain has taken in nearly 200 teenagers over the past week, but the transfers were on hold on Monday. British Interior Minister Amber Rudd said London was contributing up to £36 million (40 million euros, $44 million) toward the operation to clear the camp. The head of France’s refugee agency, Pascal Brice, had harsh words for Britain’s role on Tuesday. “We’re doing their work for them,” he said on French radio, reiterating calls for Britain to take in the Jungle’s minors. Britain and France signed the so-called Le Touquet accord, which effectively moved Britain’s border with France to the French side of the Channel, in 2003. — AFP