THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: CALAIS, France -- French police bulldozed a squalid, sprawling forest camp known as the "jungle" near the northern city of Calais on Tuesday, detaining hundreds of illegal migrants who had hoped to slip across the English Channel into Britain.
French Immigration Minister Eric Besson, who visited the site Tuesday, called it a "base camp for human traffickers" and said he would return the rule of law to the northern French coast.
The people camped there -- mainly migrants from Afghanistan -- have strained relations between Britain and France and become a symbol of Europe's struggle with illegal migration.
A total of 278 people -- nearly half of them minors – were detained in the first part of the operation, said Pierre deBousquet de Florian, the top official for the Pas-de-Calais region.
"This operation is not targeting the migrants themselves, it is targeting the logistics of the human traffickers ... who exploit them," he said.
Refugees in jeans and sweatshirts, many appearing to be in their teens, carried knapsacks and blankets as they were led away in single lines by police. Activists yelled at the police with bullhorns, forming a human chain around some refugees, and briefly scuffled with police as they took the men and boys one by one.
Several refugees appeared despondent about their fate, sobbing quietly as they squatted in the sand or stood in police lines.
Mr. Besson said there was no violence in the operation and all personal belongings were collected and were being sorted out in the Calais mosque. Thirty interpreters and a medical team were helping authorities with the operation and 200 temporary beds were arranged for the migrants, the regional administration said.
After the people were cleared out, authorities brought in bulldozers to raze the maze of makeshift tents built from sticks and sheets of plastic amid the sand and brush. Workers with chain saws cut down the trees and scrub brush that had supported the tents. >>> Associated Press | Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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