France to shut down Calais migrant 'jungle'

Friday, 24 April 2009 12:00 AM

By Alice Cannet

French authorities will shut down an immigration centre in Calais which many believe promotes immigration to the UK.

"The jungle must have ceased to exist before the end of the year", announced French immigration minister today.

Eric Besson gave details of a new plan to deal with the makeshift tents camp, nicknamed the "jungle", in which 1000 illegal migrants are currently staying waiting to reach the UK.

On a visit to a nearby factory Eric Besson discussed the "jungle" issue with local business leaders. They complained that the presence of the migrants was impairing the economic development of the region.

Tioxide, a chemical factory with 200 employees was repeatedly trespassed and broke into by migrants in search of water, food, and electric plugs to charge their mobile phones.

There were complaints that migrants were at the source of many incidents and that employees were starting to fear the workplace.

Besson set out a six-points plan to facilitate the camp closure. He would create a special point of contact at the subprefecture as well as an agency to deal with migrants rights and a food distribution point.

His plan also includes a permanent centre providing access to medical care, a sanitary point and a new reception point opened during the day.

Mr Besson called for the UK to "take a more active role in controlling its border with the Schengen space" in order to fight illegal immigration

He said "there isn't enough pressure on the police, on the border smugglers and on the illegal network".

The "jungle", as it known locally, sprang up in 2002 when the Red Cross centre Sangatte was closed under pressure from the UK, which thought it drew too many illegal migrants.

"When they closed Sangatte, there were maybe 200 migrants. Now, they are 800. It changed absolutely nothing," a campaigner from the humanitarian organisation Salam said.

A police raid on Tuesday morning saw 200 immigrants arrested, the majority from Afghanistan who were taken in for questioning in an operation involving more than 500 policemen.

The operation intended to "show smugglers that they cannot do as they like," Mr Besson said. The migrants were all released apart from ten who remained in detention for administrative reasons.

A small protest was carried out in Calais town centre on Tuesday by angry migrants who later staged a sit-in as they were blocked in by police.

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