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Paris- French police used tear gas to dismantle a new migrant camp in central Paris that was built to house hundreds of refugees who were evacuated from makeshift shelters in the suburbs without offering an alternative, while the French government is under internal criticism for ignoring the mistreatment of asylum seekers.
Volunteers helped set up around 500 blue tents on Republic Square in the heart of the French capital on Monday night, which quickly filled with migrants, most of them Afghans.
About an hour later the police arrived to dismantle the camp and remove the tents that in some cases had people inside, amid demonstrations by immigrants and boos from volunteers.
Later, the police used tear gas to disperse the rest, forcing the migrants to disperse through the streets of Paris. The dismantling of the new camp comes a week after the evacuation of migrants from makeshift shelters in the northern Paris suburb of Saint Denis, without moving them elsewhere.
The city’s deputy mayor in charge of housing, emergency housing and refugee protection, Ian Bossar, denounced the way in which “the forces of public order respond to a social situation.”
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanan described the scenes of the dismantling of the camps as “shocking” and noted that he had ordered the city police to present a report on what happened. Paris is an important stop on the migration route to Europe, as camps are often established, which the police dismantle after a few months.
Thousands of people moved from Paris to the port of Calais and tried to hide in trucks crossing the Channel into England. Some of them tried to cross by boat.
The dismantling of the camp comes after the French government passed an amended security law that places restrictions on the publication of photographs and recordings of the faces of police officers while performing their duties in public places. French unions say the law would give the police a green light to prevent journalists from doing their job and documenting violations by security forces.
France has joined other European countries, such as Italy and Britain, in taking a tougher stance towards immigrants since the outbreak of war in Syria in 2011 sparked a migration crisis in Europe.
Opinion polls show voters are concerned about the immigration issue, which has fueled support for far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who will likely be President Emmanuel Macron’s main rival in the upcoming 2022 presidential election.
