French police clear last migrant camp in north Paris

French police yesterday cleared the last migrant tent camp in northeast Paris, moving 427 people to shelters as part of a plan to take migrants off the streets.

The migrants, who included four women, were living in 266 tents and makeshift shelters in a canal-side camp “strewn with waste and refuse, overrun by rats and giving off a pestilent and foul-smelling odour of urine and excrement”, according to the authorities.

The operation to tear down the camp began at 6:00 am (0500 GMT) and lasted two hours, the regional prefecture said.

Dozens of informal settlements have sprung up in recent years around the French capital.

Many of the migrants have their sights on the northern Channel port of Calais, a jump-off point for crossings to Britain.

The authorities regularly tear down the camps, saying they pose a health hazard.

Last week, police moved more than 1,400 migrants, including 93 children, from another camp in northern Paris.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner had promised to clear all migrant camps from the city by the end of last year, in part by opening more shelters for asylum seekers but also by deporting those whose claims are rejected.