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France - immigration
Up to 60 Calais migrants could be released
Article published on the 2009-09-25 Latest update 2009-09-25 14:50 TU
An Afghan migrant cooks in his makeshift shelter in woods near the port of Calais on 23 September, 2009
(Photo: Reuters)
Dozens of migrants detained when French police dismantled a makeshift camp in Calais could be released. The camp served as a base to try to enter Britain.
A total of 276 people, many of whom are from Afghanistan, were held following the raid in the northern port of Calais earlier this week.
About 130 of the migrants were sent to detention centres but judges in the southern cities of Nimes, Toulouse and Marseille ruled that nearly 60 of them should be freed.
A judge in Nimes ordered the release of 35 migrants.
Some were freed because their age cannot be determined and they could be minors, making their detention in camps illegal.
Others were released because their 20-hour journey from Calais had been “unreasonably long”, given that they could have been sent to detention centres in the north.
He said the trip took up almost half the 48-hour period they could legally be held and the migrants’ right to defend themselves “had not been provided” during the journey.
Prosecutors in all three cities have appealed against the decisions and the migrants are being kept in custody while the appeals are considered.
Immigration Minister Eric Besson told France 24 televison that some of the migrants will definitely be deported after the operation to destroy the camp, which has become known as “the jungle”.
Half of the 276 people held were minors, he said, adding that those who identify themselves as minors will be taken to shelters, while adult detainees can apply for asylum or get money to return home or a place in a shelter.
Adults who refuse these options could be forced to return to their country of origin.
Britain, which last year stopped 28,000 migrants crossing the 35 kilometres from France, hailed the operation as “decisive”.
 Besson on Jungle clearout |
