Calais 'jungle' demolition: Hundreds of migrants abandon bus queues and head back to camp after processing delays

Nicolas Sarkozy, who is hoping to be chosen as his party's candidate for the presidential elections next year, has attacked the French government's plan for Calais - accusing them of having dismantled "nothing at all" in rehousing "11,000 unfortunate migrants."

He told France 5:

When I left the presidency, there were fewer than 1,000 migrants in Calais; now we talk about 11,000.

We haven't dismantled anything at all. We're taking the 11,000 unfortunates there, and spread them out in France.

Are we going to give them papers? I don't understand this government's politics.

He said that 90 per cent wanted to get to Great Britain, and only 5 per cent were eligible.

He also said, falsely, that Britain returns migrants to Sudan and Eritrea.

Great Britain sends the Sudanese back to Sudan; the Eritreans back to Eritrea. Germany does the same.

Parts of these countries are at war.

When told by his interviewers that, according to the spokesman for the interior minister, the majority were eligible for asylum, Mr Sarkozy replied:

If they were eligible, why keep them for five years in the Jungle?

If they were eligible, they should have been given their papers.

With 800 journalists, 200 activists and 1,500 police reinforcements all arriving in Calais, owners of local hotels and Air BnB apartment renters are cashing in.

Pierre Nouchi, president of the local branch of the hotel union, the UMIH, told La Voix du Nord:

The hotel industry has benefited enormously, with a spike in bookings since Thursday and the weekend already looking strong.

That isn't just in Calais - it includes Saint-Omer, Dunkerque, Boulogne-sur-Mer. Restaurants too.

The impact is immediate, as it is directly linked to the demolition of the camp. So that means it won't last in the coming weeks.

He said that the activists - hundreds of members of the anarchist movement No Borders have arrived in town - were mainly staying in Air BnBs.

They aren't going to hotels, but mainly to rented accommodation.

But they are eating in restaurants, and bringing business to local shops.

He said that all the local tourism workers were crossing their fingers that, after the Jungle is dismantled, Calais can return to being a tourist town - something it has not been for many years.

It will depend on whether the migrants return to another area of the coast, or simply stay away. Before the Jungle, migrants began moving into empty houses in the industrial town.

The thing to watch is whether the squats start turning up again inside the town.

Italy's coastguard said on Monday that another 16 people had died during operations in which 2,200 migrants were rescued off Libya, propelling both deaths at sea and the numbers arriving in Italy towards new highs.

On the day France began dismantling the Jungle camp in Calais, the coastguard in Rome said the 2,200 migrants and the corpses had been picked up in operations to help save 18 rubber dinghies and three small wooden boats from sinking.

The rescues follow weekend operations in which 17 bodies, including those of four children, were recovered and some 4,000 people were pulled to safety.

Unaccompanied refugee children will not be allowed to sponsor their parents to come and join them in the UK, the Home Secretary has indicated.

Amber Rudd was asked by the Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron if the government intended to change its policy relating to family reunions.

But the Home Secretary said the government had no plans to change the rules.

Mr Farron said:

"Specific to Calais, many of the vulnerable children being brought to the UK will have family somewhere, even if they are currently separated.

"The United Kingdom though is the only European Union country I understand that does not allow unaccompanied children with refugee status the right to sponsor immediate family, including parents, to join them.

"Given the importance of keeping families together, will you ensure that unaccompanied refugee children are able to sponsor their parents for the purpose of refugee family reunion if and when they are found?"

Mrs Rudd replied: "In terms of changing to our immigration policy on asylum there are no plans to change it."

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott criticised the government for failing to do enough to help children in the camp.

She told the Commons:

"As we speak, thousands of men and women are being bussed out of Calais, one more leg in a desperate odyssey which has taken some of them half way around the world.

"It is worth noting that the situation in Calais represents everything that is wrong about Europe's response to the refugee crisis."

She said there was too little co-operation with the French authorities, while Britain waited far too long to go into the camp and identify those with a legal right to come to the UK.

She added:

"The men, women and children in the Calais camp were treated by the French and the UK like pawns, but these are real people fleeing war and economic devastation who were living in appalling conditions."

Ms Abbott accused the Home Secretary of trying to "hide behind the French" and not doing enough.

Almost 200 migrant children, including more than 60 girls, have been brought to the UK from Calais under a fast-track scheme to transfer youngsters before the Jungle camp is demolished.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd disclosed the number as she provided an update on the progress of the steps she first outlined a fortnight ago.

She also revealed several hundred more children will be brought over in the coming weeks, while the UK will provide up to £36 million for border controls and to help ensure the camp remains shut.

In recent days scores of unaccompanied minors have been arriving in Britain from Calais, either because they have family links here already, or under the Dubs amendment requiring the Government to give refuge to children stranded in Europe.

Ms Rudd told the Commons that since a statement she made on the matter on October 10, almost 200 children have been transferred.

"This includes more than 60 girls, many of whom had been identified as at high risk of sexual exploitation," she added.

Ms Rudd insisted the Government has been working to speed up the process - saying officials were only given access to the camp in the last week.

Ministers have repeatedly faced criticism over the pace of efforts to transfer children with a right to come to the country either because they have family ties here under the so-called Dublin regulations, or through the Dubs amendment.

However, Ms Rudd said: "The Government has sought every opportunity to expedite the process to transfer children to the UK.

"My officials were only given access to the camp to interview children in the last week, and similarly we have only recently received agreement from the French government that we could bring Dubs cases to the UK.

"Before this we worked closely with the French behind the scenes, but without their agreement it was not possible to make progress on taking non-family cases from Calais."

In the last week, officials have interviewed 800 children in the camp claiming to have close family in the UK.

Ms Rudd said: "Every child presented in the last week has been interviewed by UK staff. Much of this work has been carried out in difficult conditions, and on a number of occasions interviews have been paused and UK staff have withdrawn for safety reasons."

Those likely to be granted refugee status and those aged 12 or under will be prioritised for resettlement under the Dubs route.

Only those present in camps before the start of the clearance operation launched on Monday will be considered, Ms Rudd added, saying it was important that more children are not encouraged to head to Calais.

The Home Secretary said the Government will be contributing up to £36 million to maintain the security of "juxtaposed" border controls, to support the camp clearance, and to "ensure in the long term that the camp is kept closed".

She stressed the contribution is "not made unconditionally", adding: "We will continue to work with the French government to ensure that the clearance operation is full and lasting."

Our correspondent in Calais, David Chazan, writes:

Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister, said 2,318 migrants were evacuated from the camp on Monday.

He said 1,918 were transferred to accommodation centres elsewhere in France and 400 children were taken to a temporary holding centre in converted shipping containers, in a fenced-off enclosure within the camp.

The shipping containers will be left while the rest of the camp is pulled down.

At least 4,000 migrants remain in the camp.

Many have vowed to stay in the Calais area and continue trying to cross the Channel.

Others appear willing to give up and apply for asylum in France because of the appalling living conditions at the camp, and because they say increased security makes it more difficult to reach Britain.

Some of the Calais migrants have decided that they would rather return to their home countries than leave the Jungle and be housed elsewhere in France.

Maryline Baumard, correspondent for Le Monde in Calais, explained:

In the last few weeks, 135 people have asked to be returned to the country they came from.

Many of them are Afghans and Iraqis.

This morning, in the waiting line, several migrants told me that they didn't want to remain in France, and would rather go back to their own country.

That's the result of many months spent living in the Jungle, where it's really a battle for survival. It's been very difficult for them and as a result some are despondent, and wanting to just go home.

Christian Salome, president of the charity Auberge des migrants, said that there are around 2,000 people in the Jungle who do not want to leave.

He told La Voix du Nord, the local newspaper:

They still want to get to England.

If the evacuations have been calm on Monday, you have to be far more careful in the coming days when the only ones left are the ones who don't want to leave, and are adamant that they are going to keep trying to get to England.

It's now almost 7pm in Calais, and the relocation has stopped for the night.

In summary:

• The first buses left the Jungle shortly before 9am local time, with the last at 6:45pm.
• 800 journalists from around the world are in Calais to observe.
• More than 1,800 migrants of the estimated 7,000 left today, on the first day of three.
• A total of 43 buses have left Calais today.
• The process has been calm, with only minor scuffles reported.

David Chazan reports from the Jungle:

Shakram, 17, an Afghan migrant waiting to see British officials said: “I will try to get to England legally, and if that fails I will do it the incorrect way.”

Mohammed, 36, who served as a major in the Afghan army, did not join the exodus, preferring to stay in the caravan that has been home for him, his wife and two sons, aged 9 and 7, for the past 10 months.

“We will try to stay in the Calais area. We have close relatives in Manchester, my wife's mother and brother. They are British citizens and we are determined to join them.”

He said the family left Afghanistan after being threatened by the Taliban, who wanted him to take suicide bombers into an army base where he worked as an instructor.

At least 1,600 migrants have been bussed away from the Jungle, but thousands remain in the camp.

Many have decided the queues  are simply too long to depart today, and will try again tomorrow.

Mahmoud Abdrahman, 31, from Sudan, is among them. He pulled a black knapsack from his shelter to prove that he was ready.

"It's not good, the jungle", he said, complaining of inadequate food and water and filthy toilets shared by hundreds.

"I need peace," he said, "anywhere."

The demolition of the camp is set to begin on Tuesday. Most of the migrants still have no idea where they will end up.

"What should I do?" asked a 14-year-old newly arrived Afghan, according to the Associated Press.

Some 1,300 child migrants do not know to where they will be transferred as the camp many of them have been living in for months is cleared out.

The Home Office has "reluctantly" agreed to stop transferring children to the UK, at the request of French authorities.

The children will now be moved to shipping containers on the edge of the Jungle for interviews with British and French immigration authorities.

"It's cold here," one Sudanese teenager who identified himself as Abdallah told Reuters. "Maybe we'll be able to leave in a bus later, or next week, for Britain."

Hundreds of migrants are returning to the Jungle camp, frustrated at being made to queue for more than four hours to be bused to accommodation centres elsewhere in France.

"It should be managed better," said Shakram, 17, an Afghan migrant.

"We have a lot of patience but this is not right. These people have agreed to go but why are they not being dealt with faster?"

The Telegraph's Rory Mulholland has captured this footage of more scuffles breaking out near the camp.

Mohammed, 36, who served as a major in the Afghan army, stayed in the caravan that has been home for him, his wife and two sons aged 9 and 7 for the past 10 months.

 "We've been told we can stay here until Wednesday," he said.

 "We will try to stay in the Calais area. We have close relatives in Manchester, my wife's mother and brother. They are British citizens and we are determined to join them. Britain is better than France for our family."

Mohammed said they fled Afghanistan because the Taliban threatened to kill them unless he agreed to take suicide bombers into the army base where he worked as an instructor.

"We've tried to get to Britain 35 times but every time the police stopped us," he said.

Ashran, 24, also from Afghanistan, said he would not leave Calais.

Sipping a plastic cup of coffee in a clearing among tents, he said: "I'm not getting in any bus. I want to go to England," he said in fluent English.

"You see these people getting on the buses today? In a couple of weeks they'll be back in Calais, maybe not in this jungle but in another one."

Ashran said he had managed to reach Britain but was arrested and sent to Italy, the first European country he entered, where he was fingerprinted.

He said he had tried dozens of times to get back to the UK.

"I've been inside trucks, on top of trucks. But every time they catch me."

 Watch David Chazan's other Facebook live session from earlier this morning: 

Some 2,000 migrants streamed out of the Calais "jungle" camp on Monday as riot police surrounded the shantytown, due to be demolished this week.

By 9-30 am, the migrants, mainly young men from Eritrea and Sudan, had made their way to a temporary bus station set up outside the camp.

From there they will be taken to accommodation centres in other parts of France.

British officials shepherded a group of children through the crowds before their transfer for resettlement in the UK, where many of them have relatives.

There was sporadic clashes during the night, with piles of rubbish set ablaze by some migrants.

Police fired tear gas to disperse troublemakers but the situation this morning is largely peaceful and the mood good humoured.

"I don't know where these buses will take us but I want to get to England. My aunt lives there," said Samuel Haptom, 16, from Eritrea.

 Other teenagers queuing to leave were from Sudan and Ethiopia.

 Adel Moussa, 17, from Sudan, said he had no family members in Britain but was still hoping he would be allowed to start a new life in the country.

Most of the youngsters have spent long months living in the squalor of the Calais camp.

A helicopter flew overhead and scores of riot police vans surrounded the perimeter of the camp, where between 6000 and 10,000 migrants have been living.

The French authorities say there are about 6,400 but charities claim there are more than 10,000.

The majority are hoping to claim asylum in Britain. They have been trying to board ferries, lorries and trains illegally.

Migrants have been congregating in Calais for more than 20 years, but the French authorities now believe they can clear the Calais area of all camps.

A small group of protestors, including some activists from Britain, gathered outside the camp this morning, but were outnumbered by police.

Natacha Bouchart, the Mayor of Calais, said she was ‘relieved but also worried’ about the operation to clear and demolish the camp, describing it as "Europe's largest shantytown".

The authorities expect it to take a week.

She confirmed that members of a left wing British group called No Borders are in the northern French port town, expressing fears that they were planning to attack the police.

About 1,250 officers are being deployed to empty the camp before bulldozers roll in.

When part of the Jungle was demolished in March, fighting broke out with police.

Fires were lit across the camp, while water canon and tear gas was used to hold back mobs of activists and migrants.

Young Afghan men have already been seen smashing up the makeshift cafes, shops, and restaurants that have sprung up in the Jungle. They tried to set some of them on fire.

 Migrants who refuse to leave the Jungle face arrest.

They are being instructed to report to officials at the temporary bus depot where they can choose to be transferred to the Bordeaux region in south-western France, or Brittany.

About 60 buses are to take up to 3,000 people on Monday, with 45 buses on Tuesday, for 2,500 people, and on Wednesday 40 buses for 2,000 people.

This will continue throughout the week.  Unaccompanied minors living in the Jungle will be processed separately and interviewed by British officials.

Pierre-Henry Brandet, a spokesman for the French interior ministry, tells  La Voix du Nord: "This morning's success shows that the initiative was well prepared. 

"The hardest thing from now on is persuading the migrants who don't want to leave the camp to do so in the coming days."

A joint survey carried out by Help Refugees and Auberge des Migrants has found that the population of the camp has dropped by 20 per cent - but the number of unaccompanied child refugees has increased. 

The number of unaccompanied child refugees has shot up from 1022 to 1291 in recent months, according to the aid agency. 

It added that today alone at least 3,000 people would be displaced from the camp, with thousands more to follow in the coming days. 

Rather than apply for asylum in France, most have preferred to head to Britain for a variety of reasons, writes Adam Plowright. 

Some have family networks there, while others are attracted to Britain's reputation as a more economically vibrant country. The English language is also a big draw.

As the evacuation approached, more and more residents began seeking asylum in France, seeing it as the only way to avoid deportation.

Conditions are bleak. Sanitation is limited and illnesses spread easily. Women and children risk sexual violence, while brawls and deadly road accidents are commonplace.

For the local economy, repeated targeting of trucks has seriously disrupted traffic at the port and Channel tunnel.

Locals complain about the image of their town, and Calais bars and restaurants say trade has been severely hit. Protesters blocked roads in September to demand the camp's closure.

The conditions have also drawn criticism from the United Nations and charities, embarrassing the French government.

In 2003, the two countries signed the so-called Le Touquet accord, which effectively moved Britain's border with France to the French side of the Channel.

Much ink has been spilled over the French government's plan to disperse the Calais camp's estimated 10,000-strong population among smaller asylum centres dotted around the country. 

They have reportedly set aside up to 12,000 places for migrants from the so-called 'jungle' - but details as to where exactly these centres are has been fairly scant. 

The exact locations are now emerging in the French press - local newspaper La Voix du Nord says the buses arriving in Calais today are headed for centres in Haute Savoie, Haute Loire, l’Isère, Drôme and Saône et Loire. 

They are mainly rural locations, most of which will house between 100 and 300 migrants according to Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister. 

Up to 200 members of the "No Border" British anarchist group who are opposed to the destruction of the so-called 'jungle' arrived in the camp over the weekend, according to a senior local official. 

Fabienne Buccio, the Calais prefect, said access to the camp was being heavily regulated to prevent activists from stoking violence inside. 

"In total, there must be between 150 and 200 No Borders activists in the camp," she said. 

"We know that many of them arrived this weekend. We have already turned back activists at the border, we can do this."

It comes after  Giles Debove, a police union spokesman, said forces "will have to be very vigilant" when tackling the anarchists. 

Yvette Cooper, chairman of the Home Affairs select committee, has just BBC Radio 4's Today programme:

"They are right that the camp needs to be cleared and it should never have lasted this long, when it is dangerous and squalid. It could never be an answer to the refugee crisis that Europe has faced.

"There has been a concern though that we need to make sure people have a place to go, in particular the children. The French authorities have not put in proper alternative arrangements to make sure the children are somewhere safe.

"It is quite shocking that this could have gone on for so long with criminal gangs building up a base and desperate refugees not getting the help and support they need.

"There are children who have family in the UK who could be looking after them. They are still stuck in Calais today and that is really worrying. Once the clearing starts there is a significant risk that many of those children just disappear.. the consequences are that they slip into the arms of traffickers and gangs.

"We also passed the Dubs amendment back in May so that Britain could help lone children. It is right that Britain does its bit."

Asked about the prospect of the British border moving back across the Channel under a new French government, she said: "I don't want to see that happen. I don't think it will help the process. I think having the border controls in Calais has helped and it is something we should try and retain, but there has to be a plan between Britain and France to help these children and teenagers."

The Home Office is facing anger from a rural community in Devon for failing to tell them they are hosting up to 70 unaccompanied migrant teenagers from Calais.

As police fired tear gas into crowds of migrants in the Calais “Jungle” on the eve of the the planned closure of the squalid camp, a "respite facility" near the market town of Great Torrington, about 25 miles from Bude, is set to welcome some of the first arrivals under the "Dubs amendment", which grants refuge to the most vulnerable.

However, one local community leader said the choice of location was "bizarre" as he claimed Government and council officials had failed to consult the town's 5,000-strong population.

"We are a very tolerant, accommodating community but that is a very large amount of people," said Nick Hallam, secretary of the Great Torrington Cavaliers, which has won The Queen's award for voluntary service.

Natacha Bouchart, the mayor of Calais, says she is confident the demolition of the camp will go ahead "smoothly."

But she also said heavily armed security were ready to deal with troublemakers. 

'We have tried to plan for everything. This is a big operation...but I am confident that 90 per cent will make the right decision and accept a place at a reception centre in another part of France.

The first bus has arrived in Calais, picked up a group of refugees, and set off again for an asylum centre in central France. 

Here's some footage from the Telegraph's David Chazan, who is at the camp this morning. 

Groups of migrants have gathered at sunrise with the few belongings they have to wait for buses which will take them to new reception centres dotted around France. 

"I feel very happy, I've had enough of the Jungle," 25-year-old Abbas from Sudan told AFP.

"There are a lot of people who don't want to leave. There might be problems later. That's why I came out first," he added.

Not everyone wants to go - thousands are expected to simply flee the camp during the demolition, sleeping in the streets of Calais before eventually returning to the 'jungle."

Some say they will simply move on to other smaller migrant camps in northern France, such as the "Grande-Synthe" camp, which houses around 2,500 migrants.