Calais refugee camp doubled to 6,000 people

The number of migrants in the Calais camp on France's north coast has doubled to close to 6,000 people, the prefect for the region said on Friday.

Pas-de-Calais department prefect Fabienne Buccio said the number of people in the camp had gone over 3,000 before the summer and then stabilised, but that in the past three weeks the number of people had nearly doubled to close to 6,000 people.

"I do not know what comes next, but 6,000 is a maximum," she told Reuters, adding local authorities were struggling to strike a balance between providing for the migrants and applying French state laws.