French police have begun detaining young people in the migrant camp known as the Calais “Jungle” amid continuing scenes of chaos, as bulldozers began to demolish shelters and new fires erupted in sections of the settlement.
Charities were told police would arrest anyone remaining on the site on Thursday afternoon if they had not registered. Some arrests had already taken place in the morning.
Video footage emerged showing police taking away four young people from the site as they queued for food. It was not clear why they had been removed or where they had been taken to. Volunteers said they saw two police vans removing young people from the site.
“We saw four children with wristbands being taken into the back of a police truck,” Inca Sorrell of Help Refugees said. It is not clear how many people had been held by police.
The remaining refugee population was under instruction to queue and register by the motorway bridge at the entrance to the site or face arrest. “We have been told that everyone without a registration bracelet will be arrested from 12,” Annie Gavrilescu, of HelpRefugees said.
There were chaotic scenes as people made their way to the bridge and attempted to register themselves, children and adults jostling together. “It is unbelievable chaos as it has been for the past few days,” Ms Gavrilescu added.
Clearance operation
Hundreds of riot police were on site during the clearance operation earlier in the week with children kettled into pens and made to sit on damp grass for hours as they queued for registration.
Minors who have not had a chance to be registered were wandering around in the camp in a state of panic and confusion. Charities say there has been a stark absence of information for the remaining young people about their options; they estimate that there could be as many as 150 children who are still unregistered.
A Save the Children representative said: “The situation for children in Calais after the demolition is the worst it’s ever been . . . Vulnerable children slept under bridges, outside warehouses and in the Jungle camp itself, which has become an increasingly volatile environment.”
Fresh fires broke out next to the container camp, where 1,500 children who have registered are being accommodated. Meanwhile, dozens more were huddled together outside accosting anyone who might help.
There were new buses laid on to take up to 200 remaining adult migrants to reception centres around France but children, some of whom have a right to enter the UK, were also being put on board.
“There is complete lack of information,” said Stuart Lock of Refugee Youth Service, which has had a constant pastoral presence outside the container camp all week.
On Wednesday night it helped organise blankets, food and water for about 50 unaccompanied minors who were forced to sleep rough on the sandy verge opposite the container camp.
With risk of people traffickers and sexual exploitation a reality in the camp, they provided through-the-night volunteers to watch over the children.
The local prefecture was defensive in a press briefing, saying they had provided shelter for 68 more in a warehouse that had room for thousands.
But volunteers were critical of the support offered. “The chaos has caused children to sleep on the ground in front of the place where they were meant to get safe shelter. It is absolutely despicable. Other children sent to go back to sleep in the camp where the camp was billowing with smoke, and where gas canisters were exploding,” Ms Gavrilescu said.
Unaccompanied children
The Guardian spoke to at least half a dozen 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds who said they had slept rough on the verge near the processing centre on Wednesday night.
Unaccompanied children were among refugees and migrants queuing on Thursday morning outside the warehouses where authorities had carried out registrations earlier in the week but they remained closed.
The French authorities had said on Wednesday that they had completed the clearance of people from the camp but the large numbers of rough sleepers suggested this was not the case.
Josie Naughton of Help Refugees said: “We are disturbed to see children being arrested today with no explanation. The clear lack of planning to protect these children during the demolition has without question placed them at risk. We urge the British and French authorities to quickly rectify the situation and safeguard these children properly.”
Another busload of children was understood to have left Calais on Thursday morning, bringing children eligible for sanctuary in the UK to be registered in London. There were no details about how many were on the bus, although about 300 are understood to have been brought to the UK in the past 10 days, according to Safe Passage UK.
The Labour peer, Alf Dubs, whose amendment to the Immigration Act has forced the government to accept a number of vulnerable children, said he was “satisfied that more children are arriving here”, but he described the situation in Calais as “disastrous”.
“We argued that the children in Calais should be in a place of safety, but they are not. I don’t know who to blame,” he said.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are absolutely committed to safeguarding and protecting children in Calais and have already transferred a considerable number of unaccompanied minors to the UK so far this year.
“The French interior minister made a specific commitment to the home secretary that his government would continue to take responsibility for all children in Calais during the clearance operation – including those being assessed for possible transfer to the UK. We have no jurisdiction to operate on French territory, but we continue to work closely with our French partners and have offered assistance to ensure the safety of children during the clearance process.”
Dorothy Sang, a Save the Children aid worker in the camp, said: “Last night, we spent hours trying to negotiate a place for three young Eritrean boys – two were 13 years old and the other was 14 years old. Despite their pleading and most of ‘the Jungle’ being burnt to the ground, these boys were refused.
“They had to spend another night in the Jungle, which is now the most dangerous it has ever been for children. It’s disappointing to see this being reported as a ‘success’ when so many vulnerable children have been left behind and so many more have run away. We may never know where they’ve gone.”
– (Guardian service)