The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Thousands leave squalor of
Calais: Migrants and refugees board buses as demolition of rat-infested camp begins
Thousands of refugees and migrants have packed their bags as the first day of the Calais Jungle mass exodus draws to a close, French officials believe.
Approximately 2,000 camp residents, including an estimated 300 minors, passed through the registration centre on the fringe of the squalid camp yesterday, a spokesman for the French Interior said.
Some 39 buses so far have been sent to regions all over France, except Paris and Corsica.
Crowds carrying rucksacks, holdalls and wheeliebags, many with scarves over their faces, queued to register for accommodation centres elsewhere after being told they must leave the camp or risk arrest and deportation.
People in the queues said they had no idea where they were going but many seemed resigned to leaving the squalid camp, where demolition work is to begin today.
Clare Moseley, the founder of refugee crisis charity Care4Calais said expected the volume of people wishing to leave “clearly was not a problem anyone expected to have”.
She said: “It’s a little bit strange, I just don’t think anyone expected that kind of end to it.”
The charity supplied people with thousands of rucksacks and worked to prepare them psychologically for the mass eviction.
Shortly before noon, at least 50 armed riot police marched in to control the crowd, as people started to push and shove at the front. While small scuffles broke out, most people waited patiently, crammed inside the barriers, which police then widened to give them more space.
The general atmosphere was less volatile than scenes at the weekend when violent clashes saw residents throwing stones at French riot police on the perimeter, who fought back by firing tear gas.
An officer on the ground said about 1,250 police and gendarmes have been drafted in to ensure the eviction runs smoothly.
Those who travel to reception centres have been told they will have to claim asylum in France within a set period of time or face deportation.
Passengers on the first few buses waved at the media as they were driven out of the gated warehouse area on the fringe of the camp with a police motorcycle escort.
Aziz, from Darfur, Sudan, said he was happy to leave the camp, where he has spent the last four months.
The 27-year-old said: “I don’t like this place at all because I want to go to a city area.” Asked if he was worried, he said: “I’m feeling not worried, not happy at all. I never laugh, I never cry. Just nothing, but I want to go from this place.”
He said he would claim asylum in France and is hoping to go to the west of the country.
Speaking of his home, he said: “In Sudan there is insecurity, there is war, there is a terrible situation, discrimination . . . it is not possible to stay.”
Those who pass through the registration centre will be sorted into groups of families, minors, vulnerable or ill people and others travelling alone and given