The last buses out of the Calais "Jungle" left the French camp Thursday, carrying 291 migrants, mostly couples and women with children, to shelters around the country.
Last buses leave Calais 'Jungle' with women, children
Since mid-October, Britain has taken in more than 300 children from the Jungle and has promised to take hundreds more
Migrants carry their luggages as they walk to climb into a bus after leaving the "Jules Ferry" reception centre, next to the recently demolished "Jungle" migrant camp after a massive operation to clear the settlement, on November 3, 2016, in Calais
Recommended articles
![The snakes were safely removed from the airport [TSA]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'100'%20height%3D'100'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "The snakes were safely removed from the airport [TSA]")
The transfers end a 10-day operation to clear the camp on France's north coast, where more than 6,000 migrants -- mostly Afghans, Sudanese and Eritreans -- had been living in miserable conditions.
"This morning we completed the task of providing the migrants with shelter," senior Calais official Vincent Berton announced.
The families and children driven away Thursday had been living in an NGO-run centre near the sea of shacks and tents that were razed last week after the bulk of the migrants had left.
ADVERTISEMENT
Most of the asylum-seekers had travelled thousands of miles to Calais in the hope of illegally crossing the Channel into nearby Britain.
Under pressure from French authorities, they eventually agreed to accept a bed and a chance at asylum in France rather than be deported.
On Wednesday, more than 1,600 unaccompanied minors who were put up in a container park for a week were dispatched to centres around France, while waiting to hear whether they will be allowed into Britain.
Since mid-October, Britain has taken in more than 300 children from the Jungle and has promised to take hundreds more.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls said he was "very proud" that the operation to clear one of the biggest shantytowns in western Europe had gone off peacefully.
ADVERTISEMENT
The last of the shelters were demolished on Monday.
Valls said the Jungle, one of the most visible symbols of Europe's failure to tackle the biggest influx of migrants since World War II, had been a blight on France's reputation.
"It gave an image of France that I don't want to see -- men, women and children living in disgraceful conditions," he said.
Yet less than 300 kilometres (180 miles) from Calais, around 2,000 migrants are living in similar conditions on the streets of Paris.
Authorities are expected to soon clear the camp under a railway bridge in the French capital's northeastern Stalingrad district.
JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!
ADVERTISEMENT
Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:
Email: eyewitness@pulse.ng
Recommended articles
Security, govt officials have turned banditry into business venture, Gov laments
Makinde signs monumental deal with Shell to build gas distribution network in Oyo
Tinubu set to commission 3 critical gas infrastructure projects
You won't believe how many Lagosians were arrested in 1 year for crossing highways
Man caught trying to smuggle snakes on plane — it's not the first time
Kwara public school wonderkid scores 95 in maths, 362 overall in UTME
70 plane passengers suffer diarrhea crisis during chaotic flight
Peter Obi sent a former Vice President’s son to beg me - Reno Omokri
Nigeria is first African country to acquire this device
ADVERTISEMENT
