Fire breaks out in Calais ‘Jungle’ camp as demolition ramps up
CALAIS, France: Fresh fires broke out Wednesday 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 our 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 told AFP.
Migrants and officials alike said the fires that blazed through the camp overnight and early Wednesday 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.
Many migrants could be seen taking selfies with the flames in the background.
“You have to leave,” an aid worker shouted at some migrants. “You have these gas cylinders in your caravan, get them out!“
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 centers 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.