Calais 'Jungle' camp refugees burn shelters as demolitions resume

Migrants and refugees at the makeshift “Jungle” camp in Calais have staged a sit-in protest and set light to shelters in an attempt to disrupt continuing demolition work at the site.

In the first sign of unrest on Tuesday, wooden shacks were seemingly set alight near the demolition work.

The UK-based Help Refugees group said six shelters had caught fire and claimed watching police prevented attempts to douse the flames.

Earlier, about two-dozen residents, with a few French activists, had taken position on top of hut roofs as riot police looked on.

Riot police fired more teargas overnight after an operation to dismantle hundreds of temporary shelters led to clashes on Monday.

Activists said some people had been forcibly removed from shelters earlier in the morning, with at least two taken away by police.

The demolition work continued steadily into Tuesday afternoon, amid strong winds and increasing rain.

Nearby, in a section of the camp set aside for children and families, many of the donated caravans in which they live were being moved north in the site, further away from the demolition and police.

Some volunteers were using their cars to move the caravans while residents pushed others by hand down the rutted mud tracks.

Liz Clegg, a British woman who has spent more than six months in the camp and forged a semi-official role taking esponsibility for many of the child residents, said CS gas had been used amid Monday’s unrest.

“Some of the families have asked us to help move their caravans,” she said. “They’re very frightened; some of them have got very young children.”

Clegg said she agreed with French authorities about the camp not being a suitable place to live, especially for the 100 or so children aged under nine, and the unaccompanied children, some aged between 10 and 12.

“We thought authorities would come in and give people a week to consider their options. And it would have worked,” she said. “But wade in with gas and you’re going to scatter people, and cause fear and resentment.”

Orange-vested workers used power tools and their hands to pull down the wooden huts, the remnants of which were cleared away by diggers and put into giant metal skips. The section of the camp being cleared so far, home mainly to Iranian nationals, was lined with riot police, some carrying shields, CS gas canisters and masks.

Those evicted so far were mainly men, though volunteers said one pregnant woman and her husband were among those evicted on Tuesday morning.

Nico Stevens from Help Refugees said at least 150 people had so far lost their shelters, but many of those had remained in the camp, sleeping in tents or communal buildings.

Authorities wanted those evicted to move either to a purpose-built camp of converted shipping containers adjoining the main site or take buses to accommodation centres elsewhere in France, Stevens said. “But as of two days ago there were only 140 places left in the container camp, and yesterday there was just one bus, so I’m not sure where people are meant to go.”

Stevens added that it appeared Calais authorities were set on demolishing the entire camp in the coming weeks. “They said they wanted it gone by the end of March, and that seems to be what is happening,” she said.

“We agree it should go, as it’s no way for people to live. But they promised people would be treated humanely and with dignity, and this is not happening. Some people were evicted at 5pm or 6pm last night, and had nowhere to go.”

Several residents said they planned to stay in Calais, whatever happened. “I will stay here,” said a man from Darfur, whose shelter is close to those already dismantled. “I don’t want to go to England any more, just stay here.”

Meanwhile, in another flashpoint in Europe’s escalating migration crisis, teargas was also fired at people at Greece’s border with Macedonia, where more than 7,000 are stranded. The Macedonian president, Gjorge Ivanov, warned that the refugee route through the Balkans would have to close once Austria reached its cap of 37,500 migrants transiting through this year.

The UN’s refugee agency warned that Europe was on the “cusp of a largely self-induced humanitarian crisis”.

New figures showed that 131,724 people crossed the Mediterranean in January and February, including 122,637 landing in Greece. This is almost as much as the total for the first half of 2015.

UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards warned that Greece could not manage the crisis alone. “It should concern everyone that despite commitments to relocate 66,400 refugees from Greece, states have so far only pledged 1,539 spaces, and only 325 actual relocations have occurred,” he said.

On Thursday, David Cameron is due to hold talks about the migration crisis with the French president, François Hollande. Britain has urged France to stem the flow of people crossing the Channel, and has funded a huge increase in security measures around the port and tunnel in Calais.

The French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, blamed Monday’s clashes on activists from the No Borders groups. He accused them of harassing French officials and confirmed that three people had been arrested. In a statement Cazenueuve also insisted the clearing operation would continue over the next few days.