‘Jungle’ camp set ablaze as demolition steps up

FRESH fires broke out yesterday in the “Jungle” on the second day of operations to dismantle the squalid migrant camp in northern France, sending people fleeing with their meagre belongings.

Huge clouds of black smoke billowed over the sprawling settlement near the port city of Calais, which the French authorities said they expect to finish clearing by the evening.

Scores of riot police were massed on the outskirts of the Jungle, where the flames destroyed many of the tents and makeshift shelters that had housed the thousands of migrants and refugees including children.

“We have it within means to close the waiting lines by this evening. After the last migrants are taken in hand, the lines will close,” senior local official Fabienne Bucco said.

Migrants and officials alike said the fires that blazed through the camp overnight and early yesterday were set deliberately, while exploding gas cylinders caused them to spread.

Police said four migrants had been arrested on suspicion of arson.

An Eritrean teenager named Yones said Afghans had started the fires.

“They are angry because the Jungle is finished and they cannot go to England,” Yones said.

Scores of people escaped to an area just outside the camp. Police barred them from going back in and they were seen on the road, some carrying backpacks and suitcases.

Around half of the camp’s estimated population of 6,000 to 8,000 migrants have been transferred out since Monday, boarding buses to centres around France. Nearly 800 unaccompanied minors – whose fate has been a key cause of concern on both sides of the Channel – have been moved to shipping containers converted into temporary shelters in the Jungle, according to the Interior Ministry.

Aid worker Christian Salome said migrants still bent on reaching Britain were looking for places to stay in and around the city of Calais.

“I’m staying here,” said Kanami, a Pakistani.

“There will be another Jungle.”