Almost 1,400 migrants have entered a new “temporary reception centre” in Calais where the migrants are allowed to spend up to a day at a time, but leftist activists are demanding more.
The new temporary reception centre has accommodated around 1,400 migrants over the last week, according to the local prefecture in Calais — a popular launchpad for illegal migrants seeking to break into Britain.
It is located in an industrial area of Calais several miles from the city centre and has largely been set up to assist migrants as the colder weather approaches, newspaper Le Figaro reports, with many of the tents even having heaters.
Migrants are bussed to the site, where they are given access to electrical chargers, snacks, and amenities, including washing and sanitary facilities. The migrants are only allowed to stay one day at the facility and must leave the following morning at 8:30 a.m.
The prefecture in Calais has claimed that, on average, the reception facility has seen 197 people every night, for a total of 1,380 over the last week.
Pro-migrant activists, however, are not satisfied with measures and have demanded more be offered by the French government.
Ludivine Colas, the coordinator of the pro-migrant Utopia 56, which has been responsible for several major protests by illegals in Paris in recent months, said that the facility was “not enough”.
“Three hundred places cannot meet the needs of 1,500 people present around Calais. We would also like a facility… that allows [migrants] to rest over several days,” Colas said.
In September, Utopia 56 came under scrutiny after a report from the French newspaper Valeurs Actuelles claimed that the group was not only on the radar of French intelligence agencies but had suspected links to people-smugglers and far-left extremists. The group denied the allegations, however, and claimed the article was defamatory.
Calais was previously home to the infamous “Jungle” makeshift migrant camp that became well-known as a den of drug abuse and violence, including sexual violence, before the French government dismantled it in October 2016.
At its peak, the Jungle was home to over 10,000 migrants looking to reach the United Kingdom. While numbers overall have declined, migrants have remained in Calais despite the removal of the camp.
Last year, police in Calais dismantled another makeshift camp that was occupied by 700 to 800 migrants waiting for a way to get to Britain — the largest police operation since the dismantling of the Jungle itself.