‘New Jungle’ camp near Dunkirk is cleared by French police

Migrants evicted from the huge ‘New Jungle’ camp near Dunkirk by French police today have insisted that ‘it won’t stop us getting to the UK.’ 

More than 1,500 people had been living rough in tents and makeshift shelters in the cramped space beside old warehouse buildings in the commune of Grand-Synthe, but hundreds of French police moved in to flatten the camp which had been likened to the notorious Calais Jungle which was broken up in 2017.

Groups including women and children were then escorted to coaches to be taken to shelters in other towns and cities, but many managed to slip away and stood watching the raid from outside a police cordon.

One Iraqi Kurd who had been living at the camp said: ‘They are taking people to Lille and other places – but it is not going to make any difference. It won’t stop us getting to the UK. 

‘Everyone is still going to find a way of coming back here so they can stand a chance of getting to England. I have lost my home in the camp, but I will just stay somewhere else tonight. 

‘It could be in a hotel or in one of the other camps in the area. There are lots of people camping out in the woods and places.’  

Officers with riot shields faced little opposition this morning as they entered the camp which is believed to have been managed by gangs of people traffickers.

Entrances to the site were blocked by police to prevent migrants from leaving until they were allowed out in small groups at a time.  

Another migrant from war torn Yemen said: ‘This camp was a disgusting place to live. I can see why the police want to knock it down. 

‘But it just means people are going to camp somewhere else until they can find a way to the UK.’ 

Many of the migrants were forced to leave behind their possessions as two forklifts heaped up rubbish including remnants of tents and sleeping bags in the camp. 

Giant skips were seen being transported into the site as smoke rose from minor fires started by cooking stoves in the piles of debris. 

Firefighters stood by with their appliances, but were not seen entering the camp which had more than trebled in size in a month. 

The eviction was also watched by charity workers who had previously helped the migrants including half a dozen staff from the Croix-Rouge Francais, the French Red Cross. 

The Prefecture of the du Nord region said more than 400 migrants at the camp had agreed to leave Dunkirk and be taken by coach to shelters all over France including one at Lille. 

A statement added that 32 people suspected to be smugglers or to be involved in other criminal activities were being detained by police. 

The operation is said to be aimed at moving migrants into ‘adapted facilities’ where they are to be informed of their rights, including the possibility to request asylum in France. The statement said: ‘The operation is continuing.’

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted on Tuesday that police had been sent to dismantle the camp, located on dis-used industrial land.  

He tweeted: ‘On my instruction, the police are proceeding with the evacuation of the illegal migrant encampment in Grande-Synthe this morning. 

‘Thank you to the police and gendarmes mobilized, as well as to the agents of the 59th prefecture who ensure their shelter.’ 

The police operation came just hours after Mr Darmanin spoke with British counterpart Priti Patel about migrant crossings in the Channel, which have hit record levels in recent days despite commitments from both sides to reduce them to zero. 

A joint statement issued after the phone call vowed greater cooperation between the two countries to make the Channel migration route ‘unviable’. 

However, Mr Darmanin’s office was keen to insist on Tuesday that the clearance of the Dunkirk camp was not a direct result of that call and had been pre-planned. 

Emmanuel Macron’s government had accused the UK of treating France like a ‘punch ball’ as 1,185 migrants crossed the Channel last Thursday – eclipsing the previous daily high of 853. 

London has long accused Paris of failing to do enough to stop the crossings and has threatened to withhold a £54million payment agreed earlier this year. 

France has insisted that the money would allow them to step up coastal patrols and intercept crossings. 

There have been allegations of French inaction as part of a ‘Brexit punishment strategy’ amid ongoing rows over fishing rights and border rules in Northern Ireland. 

Relations between France and Britain are at their lowest point in decades due to a host of disagreements on issues ranging from migrants to fishing in the Channel, as well as a submarine contract with Australia. 

Migrants have been gathering at the Grande-Synthe site since at least March this year, when French police last cleared the camp out. 

Aiming to stop the migrants returning, officers dug up waste land on which they had been camped. But this only prompted them to move to a nearby industrial site, and into the ruins of an old paper mill. 

Migrants began gathering at the new camp around September when there were just a few hundred of them living there. But numbers trebled in just a matter of weeks, and stood around 1,500 by the time police moved in. 

Most of those camped at the site, which is located 20 miles from Calais, had been hoping to reach the UK. With hundreds more people arriving at the camp each day, it quickly turned into a rubbish-strewn mess with ankle-deep mud formed during rain. 

The dis-used factory units surrounding the camp provided little protection from the elements, even as winter weather sets in. 

There were not enough toilet facilities for the number of people living there, who were relying on local charities for food deliveries.

Some were Afghan migrants, among the first to arrive in Europe after the near-total collapse of the country as it fell back into Taliban hands earlier this year. 

Others had made it into Europe by sneaking across the Poland-Belarus border, where a crisis the EU accuses Alexander Lukashenko of engineering is playing out. 

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal, speaking on France Inter radio, said ‘when we are dismantling a migrant camp, that’s above all to put people into shelters, especially as winter comes.’