Migrant shelters to open in northern France port city

PARIS — France’s interior minister announced on Monday plans to open two centers to shelter migrants returning to the northern port city of Calais, determined to get to Britain despite the closing of a vast makeshift camp last fall.

While Gerard Collomb put the number of migrants in Calais at some 400, he said more than 30,000 attempts have been made to sneak into the ferry port, the Eurotunnel train station or jump onto trucks heading to Britain since the start of the year.

The minister also ordered a report looking into claims of police mistreatment of migrants after Human Rights Watch alleged police “routinely” use pepper spray on refugees, including when they were sleeping, and appealed for witnesses to come forward.

Calais, which housed a sprawling, slumlike camp for up to 7,000 refugees and asylum-seekers until it closed in October, has refused to host similar camps. Most of the camp’s inhabitants have been bused to centers around France.

“We don’t want to restart the bad experiences of the past that all ended in the same way,” Collomb said.

Collomb and the city of Calais appealed a court ruling last month ordering that the hundreds of migrants still making their way to Calais should have access to drinking water, showers and toilets.

The Council of State, France’s highest administrative body, rejected that appeal, ruling Monday that Calais authorities were exposing the migrants to “inhuman or degrading treatment” that amounts to a “grave and manifestly illegal attack on a fundamental freedom.” The body upheld a court order that authorities must help migrants who wish to move to shelters.

In response, Collomb said two centers will be created to shelter willing migrants and speed up assessments of their situations — including whether they must be expelled from France.