It’s the beginning of the end for the so-called “Jungle” refugee camp in the northern French city of Calais, where thousands had sought refuge while waiting for an opportunity to start new lives in the United Kingdom.
French authorities began destroying the camp, which contained shops, restaurants, bars and schools, on Tuesday. Men in bright orange jumpsuits were pictured setting fire to the wooden structures and clearing people out calmly.
France approved the demolition last month, once the squalid conditions and dangers associated with attempting a illegal crossings into the U.K. had become too serious to ignore.
More than 4,000 people have already been relocated in the last two days, interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Tuesday.
They have been taken to welcome centers set up across the country by the government in the past year, which offer shelter for several months while people apply for asylum.
Minors, meanwhile, are in a more precarious situation. Around 1,300 unaccompanied children had been living in the “Jungle,” according to Save The Children.
So far, 217 unaccompanied minors have been reunited with family members in the U.K. Some 770 others have been placed in a temporary container camp built on the outskirts of the “Jungle,” Cazeneuve said. Their fates still hang in the balance.
Hundreds of unaccompanied children are still yet to be registered, according to Save The Children.
“When a part of the camp was demolished earlier this year, 129 children went missing. We don’t know what happened to them,” Carolyn Miles, president of Save The Children, said Tuesday in a statement. “There is every chance that this could happen again but on a bigger scale.”
“In the coming days, it is expected that they will be interviewed in order to determine their best interests,” United Nations refugee agency spokesman William Spindler said Tuesday in a statement.
See how people are coping with their change in circumstances below:
