France starts clearing 'Jungle' refugee camp

Weeklong operation will see about 6,500 people transferred to reception centers

Lines of migrants with their belongings in small bags walked to a registration center in the French port city of Calais on Monday, the first day of the mass evacuation and destruction of the filthy camp they called home.

French authorities are beginning a complex, major operation to shut down the makeshift camp, uprooting thousands who made treacherous journeys to escape wars, dictators or grinding poverty and dreamed of making a life in United Kingdom.

Under the eye of more than 1,200 police, the first of hundreds of buses arrived to begin transferring migrants to reception centers around France where they can apply for asylum. The camp will then be leveled in a weeklong operation. Hotels and even castles are among the hundreds of centers officials have been converting to migrant housing.

Authorities said the camp, known as the "Jungle", holds nearly 6,500 migrants who are seeking to get to Britain. Aid groups said there are more than 8,300.

"We have yet to convince some people to accept accommodation and give up their dream of Britain. That's the hardest part," said Didier Leschi, head of the French immigration office OFII.

Harsh reality

The harsh reality of the move hit migrants on Monday. Some were happy to leave, others were confused or in shock.

Afghan Imran Khan, 35, risks expulsion if he accepts the French plan to move him to a reception center, because his fingerprints were taken in another European country. Under European rules, he must be sent back to the country where he first registered. "I will decide tomorrow (what to do)," he said.

Khan lives in a filthy tent, one of hundreds that are expected to be destroyed by the end of the week as their occupants depart, gradually closing down the camp that sprang up behind an official shelter housing women and providing showers and daily meals.

Unaccompanied minors, many with family members in Britain, were to be housed on-site in containers set up earlier this year as their files are studied in London to see if they qualify for a transfer across the English Channel. The humanitarian organization France Terre d'Asile said 1,291 unaccompanied minors live in the camp.

The unofficial camp, which sprang up 18 months ago, was previously tolerated but given almost no state help. Aid groups, and hundreds of British volunteers, have provided basic necessities.