Migrants around Calais

French police regularly clear camps around Calais and Dunkirk

The Netherlands refused on Jan. 28 an Italian request to take in 47 migrants on a humanitarian ship that is being blocked from Italian ports, saying there was a need to distinguish between genuine refugees and economic migrants.

Sofia. Two Bulgarians and a foreigner with a humanitarian status were detained in Svoge on August 20 for illegal migrant trafficking, the Ministry of Interior said. The police found 26 illegal migrants as part of the operation.

 About 200 refugees and migrants have blocked a section of a highway near the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki to protest conditions in their camp on May 5, the Associated Press reported.

Britain and France on Jan. 18 signed a new deal to boost border security after a request by French President Emmanuel Macron, concerned at the number of migrants in Calais trying to reach British shores.

 French authorities evacuated hundreds of migrants from a wood on the northern coast near Calais on Tuesday over fears it could become a magnet for others hoping to head to Britain, The Local reported.

After banking on neglect, hostility and mistreatment to discourage a steady trickle of migrants, the new French government was ordered by France’s highest administrative body to do better this week and at least provide water and toilets to the people.

French demolition teams cleared the last shacks in the Calais "Jungle" on Oct. 31, signaling the end of the notorious camp as concerns mount for thousands of migrants sleeping rough in Paris.

Squads of workers using diggers, tractors and cranes had torn down the final tents and makeshift migrant homes on the windswept stretch of northern coastline.

Five days into a French operation to clear the Calais "Jungle," France has lashed out at apparent British criticism of the way children are being treated while thousands of migrants are resettled across France and the camp is destroyed. 

French authorities said Oct. 26 that the Calais migrant camp known as "the jungle" was cleared days earlier than planned, hours after migrants at the camp set more tents and shelters ablaze and an explosion rocked the site.