Migrants leave the "Jungle" migrant camp in Calais before the camp's planned evacuation (AFP photo)
Calais:
Migrants left behind after the Calais "Jungle" was cleared were given a final ultimatum Thursday to evacuate, as operations to raze the huge French camp went into high gear.
With the camp almost deserted, demolition crews made faster work of tearing down the makeshift dwellings that had housed thousands of migrants seeking to reach Britain.
But dozens of lost souls were still looking for shelter -- or refusing to leave.
The interior ministry said Wednesday that nearly 5,600 migrants had been taken into centres around France or accepted into Britain in the three-day clearance operation -- out of the 6,400 estimated to have been living in the camp up until this week.
But several dozen people remained after the settlement was reduced to a bleak landscape of charred tents and shacks, gutted by fires started by some migrants before their departure.
Sitting on the ground, Zour and Amir, two Afghan men in their 20s who had been living in the Jungle for two months, said they "should have left yesterday".
"We made a mistake. But will they still register us? I now want to seek asylum and stay in France," Zour said.
On Wednesday night, several migrants slept on the ground outside the hangar where scores of buses left earlier in the day.
Regional security chief Fabienne Buccio said registrations for transfer to other parts of France had closed.
But there still appeared to be a chance for the stragglers to catch a bus out, with the head of the French immigration office, Didier Leschi, telling AFP 10 more were being laid on.
Officials and aid workers warned that refuseniks faced detention and possible deportation.
"If you don't have a (registration) wristband they will arrest you," an aid worker warned a group of youths gathered outside a charity-run container park housing 1,500 minors which shut its doors to new arrivals after reaching peak capacity.
Denouncing the situation, the Save the Children charity said "the situation for children in Calais after the demolition is the worst it's ever been" and that some children "had nowhere to go".
A group of around 15 Sudanese and Guinean men calmly drinking tea at a table surrounded by a sea of debris were among the last of the holdouts.
"I don't care about the police. I only want freedom and respect," said Karim, a 37-year-old Guinean who has his heart set on going to Britain.
'Worries Over Jungle Children'
The sprawling slum outside the port of Calais has been a launchpad for attempts to sneak onto lorries heading across the Channel for over a decade.
Buccio claimed Wednesday a "page has been turned" for the camp.
But the fate of leftover unaccompanied minors -- the cause of a bitter blame game between Paris and London -- remained uncertain.
A spokesperson for Britain's interior ministry said Home Secretary Amber Rudd had spoken with her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve to "stress the need for children who remain in Calais to be properly protected."
The ministry said another group of children had arrived on Thursday, adding to more than 200 that London has taken since mid-October, and that more transfers were due in the coming days.
The France Terre d'Asile charity, which is in charge of the minors, said another 40 had been sent to a children's shelter in eastern France with more on their way to centres in the south and west as their cases are considered.
Cazeneuve has said that all minors "with proven family links in Britain" would eventually be transferred there and that London had committed to reviewing all other cases where it is "in the child's interest" to settle across the Channel.
'Is It Over?'
Most of the migrants hoping to reach Britain had fled conflict, poverty or persecution in countries such as Eritrea, Sudan and Afghanistan, and the authorities have said those who agree to be moved can seek asylum in France.
Four migrants were arrested on suspicion of arson over the fires, which camp residents and officials alike said were set deliberately.
Many locals fear new settlements will simply spring up in the area after the Jungle is razed.
Aid agencies estimate that between 2,000 and 3,000 migrants slipped out of the settlement before it was cleared, decamping to the surrounding region or to Paris.
The mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, said claims of the Jungle's demise were "premature" and demanded "guarantees" that it would not spring up again, once the police had left.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
With the camp almost deserted, demolition crews made faster work of tearing down the makeshift dwellings that had housed thousands of migrants seeking to reach Britain.
But dozens of lost souls were still looking for shelter -- or refusing to leave.
The interior ministry said Wednesday that nearly 5,600 migrants had been taken into centres around France or accepted into Britain in the three-day clearance operation -- out of the 6,400 estimated to have been living in the camp up until this week.
But several dozen people remained after the settlement was reduced to a bleak landscape of charred tents and shacks, gutted by fires started by some migrants before their departure.
Sitting on the ground, Zour and Amir, two Afghan men in their 20s who had been living in the Jungle for two months, said they "should have left yesterday".
"We made a mistake. But will they still register us? I now want to seek asylum and stay in France," Zour said.
On Wednesday night, several migrants slept on the ground outside the hangar where scores of buses left earlier in the day.
Regional security chief Fabienne Buccio said registrations for transfer to other parts of France had closed.
But there still appeared to be a chance for the stragglers to catch a bus out, with the head of the French immigration office, Didier Leschi, telling AFP 10 more were being laid on.
Officials and aid workers warned that refuseniks faced detention and possible deportation.
"If you don't have a (registration) wristband they will arrest you," an aid worker warned a group of youths gathered outside a charity-run container park housing 1,500 minors which shut its doors to new arrivals after reaching peak capacity.
Denouncing the situation, the Save the Children charity said "the situation for children in Calais after the demolition is the worst it's ever been" and that some children "had nowhere to go".
A group of around 15 Sudanese and Guinean men calmly drinking tea at a table surrounded by a sea of debris were among the last of the holdouts.
"I don't care about the police. I only want freedom and respect," said Karim, a 37-year-old Guinean who has his heart set on going to Britain.
'Worries Over Jungle Children'
The sprawling slum outside the port of Calais has been a launchpad for attempts to sneak onto lorries heading across the Channel for over a decade.
Buccio claimed Wednesday a "page has been turned" for the camp.
But the fate of leftover unaccompanied minors -- the cause of a bitter blame game between Paris and London -- remained uncertain.
A spokesperson for Britain's interior ministry said Home Secretary Amber Rudd had spoken with her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve to "stress the need for children who remain in Calais to be properly protected."
The ministry said another group of children had arrived on Thursday, adding to more than 200 that London has taken since mid-October, and that more transfers were due in the coming days.
The France Terre d'Asile charity, which is in charge of the minors, said another 40 had been sent to a children's shelter in eastern France with more on their way to centres in the south and west as their cases are considered.
Cazeneuve has said that all minors "with proven family links in Britain" would eventually be transferred there and that London had committed to reviewing all other cases where it is "in the child's interest" to settle across the Channel.
'Is It Over?'
Most of the migrants hoping to reach Britain had fled conflict, poverty or persecution in countries such as Eritrea, Sudan and Afghanistan, and the authorities have said those who agree to be moved can seek asylum in France.
Four migrants were arrested on suspicion of arson over the fires, which camp residents and officials alike said were set deliberately.
Many locals fear new settlements will simply spring up in the area after the Jungle is razed.
Aid agencies estimate that between 2,000 and 3,000 migrants slipped out of the settlement before it was cleared, decamping to the surrounding region or to Paris.
The mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, said claims of the Jungle's demise were "premature" and demanded "guarantees" that it would not spring up again, once the police had left.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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