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French authorities clear Paris migrant camp

More than 3,000 migrants have been living in a sprawling camp in the Stalingrad district in the north east of the capital.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

Paris authorities began an operation early Friday to clear more than 3,000 migrants from a camp in the northeast of the French capital, reports RFI.

The operation to clear the sprawling tent encampment, near the Canal Saint-Martin under an overhead metro bridge in the Stalingrad district, was proceeding peacefully.

Officials gathered several hundred male migrants shortly before 6.00 am behind a police line in a part of the camp housing Afghans. Buses were due to take them during the morning to accommodation centres around the greater Paris region of Ile-de-France.

The arrival of the first bus, before dawn, was greeted with cheers.

"I don't know where we are going," said Khalid, 28. "The important thing for me is to have my papers. I have been here in a tent for a month, it's good to leave."

The operation comes after a major operation last week to clear the notorious "Jungle" migrant camp at the northern French port of Calais, which has for years served as a jumping-off point for migrants attempting to stow away on trucks and trains bound across the Channel for Britain.

Read more of this report from RFI.