The French police said on Thursday that they had initiated a crackdown on migrant camps in Paris, forcibly removing more than 1,600 undocumented immigrants
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th November, 2019) The French police said on Thursday that they had initiated a crackdown on migrant camps in Paris, forcibly removing more than 1,600 undocumented immigrants.Earlier in the day, media reported that the operation to clear out the camps in the French capital's northeast had begun at 6:00 a.m. local time (05:00 GMT) with approximately 600 police officers deployed. The sweep was a response to the deteriorating sanitation and increase in violence in the camps. The migrants, who were from Somalia, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Chad, were then bused to migration centers across the capital region.
"In total, in the area of La Chapelle and [Avenue of] President Wilson, 1,606 people have been evacuated," the police tweeted.
The police also said that the operation had gone smoothly.
French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner also took to Twitter to state that the authorities would not allow such settlements to appear in the area in the future.
On Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron announced his government's decision to step up efforts against irregular migration to the country, in an attempt to wrestle the issue from the far-right National Rally political party, which used its anti-migration stance to transform into one of France's major political forces.
