France: the "jungle" of Calais

PARIS - French police had detained Tuesday morning 278 migrants, including 132 adolescents, after the dismantling of the "jungle" of Calais (north), a vast encampment of immigrants whose goal is to move to Britain, French officials said.

•     Announced last week by the French Minister of Immigration, Eric Besson, the evacuation of the camp, became a symbol of illegal immigration in Europe, took about two hours to the French police on Tuesday morning, said the prefect of the department of Pas-de-Calais, Pierre de Bousquet de Florian.
  
      "Today is an extremely important operation: it is the main camp but there will be, today  and in the coming days others to be dismantled," said Eric Besson on RTL radio.
  
      It is "not a humanitarian encampment, it is the base camp with of smugglers of people exploited, abused," he said.
  
      "You have chiefs, chiefdoms, the law of the jungle prevails on the territory of the French Republic, the law of the jungle can not last forever," he added.
  
      This camp a few weeks ago, still had about 700 inhabitants, mostly young Afghan.
  
      
  Ennaharonline/ M. O.