Paris Evacuates 1,850 Migrants from City Camp
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – French authorities evacuated 1,850 migrants from a tent camp in a Paris park, where conditions had nosedived after one of the wettest Mays on record.
The Paris regional government said on Monday that the operation was the biggest one carried out in the capital, where makeshift camps have mushroomed in recent months as France struggles to accommodate asylum seekers.
The migrants were taken by bus to 60 different reception centers in the Paris region, in what was the 23rd such evacuation of the past year.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo told Europe 1 radio there had been 1,300 people counted at the camp but numbers had surged as word spread they would be rehoused, AFP reported.
“I never thought I would spend my first nights in Paris on the street,” said Ali, a 28-year-old English teacher from Somalia, keen to shower, eat and have a good night’s sleep once he arrived at the center.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said France would take in 400 refugees a month from Greece as part of an EU relocation deal it signed last year.
Under the deal, France agreed to take in 30,000 refugees, but so far it has only taken in 500. Even at 400 per month, it would still fall far short of its obligations.
