French police move migrants from Calais business park after complaints

Police have dismantled a migrant camp near Calais after complaints from local businesses and residents. Most of the migrants have been taken to shelters.

Migrant camp in Calais DENIS CHARLET / AFP

The evacuation took place in the business park near Dunes, early on Friday morning.

Authorities say 519 migrants who had been living in tents were taken in buses to accommodation centres and shelters in various parts of France.

Among them 76 were taken to a centre in Merlimont, not far from Calais.

Le centre Les Argousiers à #Merlimont accueille 76 migrants venant de #Calais
➡️ https://t.co/nqx2wxReMs pic.twitter.com/b0xKUJTWac

— VDN Montreuillois (@VDNetaples) July 10, 2020

Thirteen others, all sole minors or families were taken to special accommodation, with 20 migrants who were deemed illegal to be taken to detention centres, according to the local police department.

The migrants had settled on private land belonging to the companies in the business park, without any authorisation to do so. Local authorities said their presence had led to “serious problems concerning security, hygiene and noise, especially for people living nearby and in the area.”

Local police said the Mayor of Calais had alerted state authorities to the problem and the owners of the land concerned took legal action. On 10 June a court the expulsion of the migrants and the dismantlement of the camp which took place at 5am on Friday.

On numerous occasions migrant camps have been dismantled in northern France but migrants keen to try to reach Britain return to the area in the hope of being able to cross the Channel.