Police tear down migrant camps in Paris
PARIS — French police dismantled makeshift migrant camps in areas underneath suburban highways Thursday in northeast Paris, creating an opportunity for President Emmanuel Macron’s government to tout its pledge to get tough on immigration.
Police carried out a large operation dismantling hundreds of tents and threatening to put those who return to the sites in detention centers.
Police official Didier Lallement said Thursday that “1,606 people were evacuated and the site is now freed of all its occupants.”
About 600 police officers were involved in clearing out the camps, as Lallement said a police presence in the areas would be maintained to stop the migrants from returning.
This highly publicized operation, the biggest in over a year, comes one day after a French government pledge to “take back control” of immigration.