600 migrants f lee as fire destroys Dunkirk camp
SOME 600 migrants were unaccounted for last night after the largest refugee camp in northern France was destroyed by fire during a riot.
At least 21 people were wounded during knife fights as gangs fought running battles in Grande-Synthe, near Dunkirk, on Monday night. Michel Lalande, the prefect of France’s Nord region, confirmed that ‘there is nothing left but a heap of ashes’.
He added that while 900 of the 1,500 camp occupants were now staying in three local gyms, and in private houses, the others were missing. Corenne Torre, of Doctors Without Borders, which set up the camp a year ago, said: ‘We just don’t know where they are.’
There were concerns a new makeshift ‘Jungle’ camp could emerge in northern France after the fire. During the clashes, one migrant was knocked over by a car outside the camp, and remains in a critical condition.
An influx of Afghans from Germany is believed to have sparked the trouble, with Kurds who were working with people smugglers ‘resenting the new arrivals’, according to a camp source. He added: ‘The Kurds did not want the Afghans spoiling their smuggling network. Arguments between the two groups got out of hand.’
Nobody was injured in the fire, but at least 75 per cent of the camp’s 290 wooden huts were completely destroyed.
The camp is now closed, and a judicial investigation is taking place into the facts of the violence. It had grown in size following the destruction of the Jungle in Calais, some 25 miles away, in October.
The Jungle contained up to 8,000 men, women and children, all of whom were dispersed to other parts of France.