French minister vows 'rapid' closure of Jungle migrant camp

France will dismantle the sprawling "Jungle" migrant camp in the northern port of Calais "as rapidly as possible", the interior minister said today after visiting the site.

Authorities must work "methodically and with perseverance .. To definitively close the camp," Bernard Cazeneuve told security forces at the barracks of the French gendarmes at Calais.

The minister said the dismantling would be "gradual and controlled" but that its closure should be achieved "as rapidly as possible".

Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart had earlier said that Cazeneuve assured her that the complex would be dismantled in a single operation.

France has made repeated efforts to shut down the camp of tents and temporary shelters, which authorities say is currently home to nearly 7,000 migrants following a surge of new arrivals in recent months.
 

Charities helping the migrants in the camp say the real figure is as high as 10,000.

The migrants gather in Calais hoping to smuggle themselves aboard lorries crossing the Channel to Britain either through the Channel Tunnel or on ferries.

Earlier this year, authorities cleared shelters in parts of the site in a bid to persuade migrants to move into more permanent accommodation or camps elsewhere on the northern coast.

Bouchart, who has often clashed with the government over the "Jungle", claims the camp could soon contain as many as 15,000 migrants if authorities took several months to dismantle it.

Calais residents are due to stage a protest on Monday over the effect the presence of thousands of migrants has had on their livelihoods.

"I am in Calais today fully aware of the serious difficulties you face each day," Cazeneuve said today.

Crowding at the camp is causing fresh tensions.

Two migrants were seriously hurt on Tuesday in what appears to have been a fight between Sudanese and Afghan residents.

The Jungle's population also includes large numbers of Somalis, Kurds and Syrians.

Cazeneuve has announced that 200 more armed police would be deployed to the site to prevent near-daily attempts to stow away on lorries heading for the ferry port, bringing the total number of police in Calais to 2,100.