Evacuation in progress, crews tear down French migrant camp
CALAIS, France — Crews in hard hats and orange jumpsuits on Tuesday started dismantling a makeshift camp in France that has become a symbol of Europe’s migrant crisis while thousands of people remained there waiting to be relocated.
The workers used their gloved hands to tear down flimsy plywood shelters, tarp-covered huts and other temporary buildings at the camp in the port city of Calais known as “the jungle.” Backhoes, construction dumpsters and trucks carted off the debris.
The demolition took place under the watch of police officers as authorities are emptying the camp of an estimated 6,300 people who have been living there, down from a height of 10,000 this summer.
“I’m very sad. It’s our home here … We can’t feel anything, even life.” Ahmed Anwar, 28, of Sudan, said as backhoes tore up the first dwellings. “No one cares about us.”