French police raid makeshift camps in Calais, no arrests
| Paris
French police raided makeshift camps in the English Channel port of聽Calais聽on Wednesday, clearing out ramshackle shelters that housed hundreds of illegal migrants from Syria, Afghanistan, and Africa.
Dozens of migrants and activists gathered near one of the camps, some angrily trying to prevent police from evacuating it. There were no immediate reports of arrests.
Police officers checked in tents and under tarps for migrants before sealing off the camps early Wednesday morning. The camps, which have been infested with scabies, included dozens of tents covered with tarps and damp blankets.
Calais聽is a magnet for migrants from war zones and deeply poor countries who are trying to reach Britain, just across the English Channel. The three camps evacuated Wednesday housed up to 500 people, according to local estimates.
Officials at聽Calais聽police headquarters and city hall could not be reached for comment Wednesday morning.
"The situation in聽Calais聽is deteriorating to a deafening silence," aid groups wrote an open letter to the French prime minister on Tuesday.
