RIGHT SPEAK: INVASION of EUROPE: French Police Dismantle Migrants’ Camps in Paris and Calais After Weekend Clashes

Migrants stand under a train station before being evacuated
by the police from a tent camp in Paris on Tuesday. AP

French police dismantled a makeshift migrant camp that had popped up in the heart of the capital, the latest sign of a major influx into Europe that France and other countries are struggling to contain.

About 380 migrants from Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia had set up tents under a subway bridge in northern Paris—the largest migrant camp to appear in the city in recent years, according to authorities. The migrants, including about 76 women and children, were taken by bus Tuesday to emergency housing in and around Paris.

Migrants being evacuated by bus from a tent camp
in Paris on Tuesday. AP

Around the same time, police dismantled two camps in and outside the port of Calais, a day after 24 migrants were injured during a fight between Sudanese and Eritreans there. About 140 people were picked up; some were being detained by police, while others were relocated to shelters.

“About 200 Sudanese stormed a camp, setting tents on fire and shouting ‘Allahu akbar’,” or God is great, said Gilles Debove, a Calais police union representative.

Police officers evicted African migrants living in a camp
under a subway bridge in Paris on Tuesday. Getty Images

France has been struggling to handle hundreds of migrants transiting the country, many of them fleeing conflicts in Africa and the civil war in Syria. After risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean, many head for the U.K. in search of a better life, but get stuck on the French side of the Channel.

Calais, with both ferry and train access to the U.K., has emerged as a key bottleneck, where the growing number of migrants has fueled cross-Channel tensions as well as a local backlash.