Plans To Move Up To 1,000 Migrants From Notorious ‘Jungle’ Camp In Calais

Local French government authorities said Friday they want to move up to 1,000 migrants living in the notorious Jungle camp in the port town of Calais.

“The time has come to move on, no one must live in the southern part of the camp, everyone must leave this section,” said Fabienne Buccio, the national’s government local representative, estimating some 800 to 1,000 migrants would be affected.

Buccio said that government representatives would on Monday visit migrant communities “to explain” the plans.

“We will give them a week to take up places that will be made available,” she added.

Some 4,000 migrants, most of them from North Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan, live in the makeshift camp from where they launch their often desperate efforts to reach Britain, across the Channel.

Their presence has become a political hot potato both within France and between Paris and London.

As winter set in, a new centre of 125 converted shipping containers was set up to house 1,500 migrants in better conditions, including heating and sockets for electricity.

However many migrants have been opposed to moving into the containers — which required their palm prints to be taken to move in and out — fearing it could impede their efforts to reach Britain and apply for asylum there.