Court
deadline for migrants to leave illegal camp expires this morning
Water
supplies at camp cut off and police move in to clear 1,000 migrants
Migrants
started camping at 'Jungle 2' near busy road three months ago
Mayor
of Calais calls for new Sangatte-style accommodation centre
Original
Red Cross camp at Sangatte was shut down in 2002
Britain accepted some migrants in deal but
others moved to makeshift camp
Calais was at crisis point last night as French riot police prepared to raze a camp of East African migrants desperate to make their way to Britain.
Calais was at crisis point last night as French riot police prepared to raze a camp of East African migrants desperate to make their way to Britain.
Police vans patrolled the town ahead of the imminent
crackdown as a court deadline for migrants to leave the illegal camp known as
Jungle 2 expired.
It comes as the mayor of Calais called for a new
Sangatte-style accommodation centre to be built.
The
original was closed in 2002 after triggering a British immigration crisis.
Last night, tensions at the camp were at breaking point as
water supplies were cut off and gendarmes prepared to move in to clear the
1,000 migrants living there.
Numbers have swollen in recent weeks as more and more people
from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan make their way to the already crowded
settlement and the surrounding countryside.
But aid workers last night criticised the planned raids,
insisting that closing the camp would not deal with the problem if no
alternative solution was proposed.
