Migrants turfed out by Paris police
FRENCH police have evicted hundreds of migrants after they set up camp under a Paris Metro station.
It was the third time in just two months that authorities have swooped to clear the site, at the Stalingrad station in the east of the French capital.
Police in body armour descended on the camp at 6am yesterday and moved the migrants on to buses, before they were taken to refugee shelters.
Up to 500 asylum seekers had been counted at the site on Sunday and three- quarters of them had been evicted within 90 minutes of the police operation yesterday.
Secretary general of the Prefecture of Ile- de- France Sophie Brocas said the migrants will be directed to centres in the area “and the provinces”.
Housed
It is the third such evacuation in two months. In March, nearly a thousand people were removed from the camp, which had mushroomed in the wake of the destruction of the Jungle camp in Calais.
The migrants, mostly from Sudan, Eritrea and Afghanistan, were housed in emergency shelters.
About 400 people were evacuated on March 7 and taken to shelters, but the camp quickly reformed.
The evacuation was the 19th of its kind in Paris since June last year, with a total of 6,500 migrants moved to emergency shelters.
Moustafa, a 24- year- old Afghan who had been living in the camp for a month, said: “We’re happy to leave – there were fights every night at the camp.”
Jean- Francois Carenco, the prefect of Ile- de- France, said: “Those who do not request asylum or who behave badly will be expelled.
“France is not a place for disorder and chaos.”