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Europe
French minister vows to close Calais migrant camps
2009-04-24
CALAIS, France -- France's immigration minister vowed Thursday to tear down tent camps housing hundreds of illegal migrants outside Calais to prevent them from trying to cross the English Channel to Britain.
The next step would be to send them back to their countries of origin, but this is La Belle France we're talking about.
Eric Besson's pledge comes amid concern on both sides of the channel about swelling numbers in the tent camps, a magnet for migrants pinning hopes on Britain for a chance at a better life. The migrants - many from Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq - try to cross the channel on trucks that cross by ferry or undersea train. The issue has been a thorn in cross-channel relations. Besson urged Britain to play "a greater role in the control of its borders," without elaborating.

Besson pledged to clear the tent camps in the woods north of Calais by the end of the year and to dismantle migrant smuggling networks. Besson said "local mafias" run the camps _ including an area dubbed "the jungle" in a field in an industrial zone _ and pledged to "reconquer these lawless zones."

He said the number of migrants has doubled over the past year to about 800, the biggest such figure since the 2002 closure of a Red Cross-run refuge at the request of British authorities.

Besson insisted that France would not open a new center to house the migrants. Instead, he said the government would open information centers and provide health care for migrants _ but at sites at least six miles (10 kilometers) away from Calais.

Aid groups welcome efforts to punish smugglers but argue that Besson's measures will make the humanitarian situation worse.
Always. Nothing we do ever makes things better.
Monique Delannoy, president of Calais migrants' aid group La Belle Etoile, added: "In the coming months, there is a risk of a rise in violence not only against the police but above all among migrants, who will fight each other for a place to stay."

Besson promised to present a plan in June to tighten surveillance of the entrance to the tunnel under the English Channel, near Calais.
Posted by:Steve White

#1  The wogs really DO begin in Calais!
Posted by: mojo   2009-04-24 10:55  

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