France clears migrants
‘Release seized boat’
GRANDE-SYNTHE, France, Sept 20, (Agencies): French authorities evacuated hundreds of migrants from a wood on the northern coast near Calais on Tuesday over fears it could become a magnet for others hoping to head to Britain.
Some 350 men, women and children, most of them Iraqi Kurds, had been living for weeks in squalid conditions in the wood on the edge of the town of Grande-Synthe.
Hundreds of police were brought in to dismantle the camp as its residents were packed onto buses, bound for migrant centres in 10 different regions across France.
“At the last count there were 56 children present and around 40 women. I can’t let this situation go on anymore,” local mayor Damien Careme told AFP on Monday before the operation.
Grand Synthe lies 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the port city of Calais, where authorities dismantled the sprawling “Jungle” camp – which at its height was home to 10,000 people – in late 2016.
Over the objections of the central government, Careme had opened a refugee camp in Grande-Synthe that met international standards in early 2016.
But the camp, where 1,500 people had been sheltered, was destroyed in a huge fire that broke out in April after a brawl involving hundreds of Afghans and Kurds.
Careme went up against the government again more recently when he proposed setting up new facilities for migrants on the site of the burned-down camp to allow them to live in more dignified conditions.
A German NGO whose migrant rescue boat was impounded by Italian authorities on suspicion of collusion with people traffickers said Tuesday it had been the victim of a “despicable smear campaign”.
Humanitarian group Jugend Rettet
swept the board.
The decision to sell was made Tuesday
Merkel
Mitterrand
went to court to demand the immediate release of its 33-metre boat the Iuventa, which was seized on Aug 2 on the island of Lampedusa.
A judge in Trapani, Sicily will rule on the request for the vessel’s release by Friday. The high-profile seizure came as Italy moves to regulate the activities of NGOs operating off Libya against a backdrop of claims their presence was encouraging migrants to try to reach Europe and making life easier for traffickers.
Hungary is set to launch another state “national consultation” about US financier and philanthropist George Soros, the government said Tuesday, six months before expected general elections.
The campaign would be to investigate public views on the “Soros plan”, and would likely be launched next month, government spokesman Bence Tuzson told public radio, without giving further details.
Last week a top official in the ruling Fidesz party, Lajos Kosa, said that this “Soros plan” includes Europe accepting a million migrants per year and the demolition of Hungary’s anti-migrant border fences.
German police say a 16-year-old refugee from Iraq is in line for a reward after she turned in a lost handbag with 14,000 euros (nearly $17,000) in it.
The dpa news agency reports that girl, who lives in a refugee home in Berlin, found the handbag on a city subway and gave it to her mother, who gave it to police.
Police said Tuesday that a 78-yearold woman had accidentally left the bag behind on the train.
German law requires a reward representing 3 percent of the value for expensive items found and returned. Items found on public transit system are eligible for a smaller reward of 1.5 percent.
evening by party leaders, with press reports saying the building, at 3,000 square metres (32,000 square feet), could raise 40 to 70 million euros ($50-85 million).
“It’s a difficult decision because this place is symbolic,” party treasurer Jean-Francois Debat told reporters.
“It’s based on two considerations. Firstly it’s obvious there are financial constraints. It’s also a political choice to prepare for the future.” (AFP)
Spain rounds up Catalan officials:
Thousands took to the streets of Barcelona on Wednesday as Spanish police detained