Horrendous conditions at Paris migrant camp revealed as French cops break up shanty town that had become an ‘open-air toilet’
Thousands of migrants made to move on from the makeshift campsite in Paris
By Brittany Vonow
6th June 2016,6:37 pm
Updated: 7th June 2016,2:00 am
A SQUALID shanty town has been cleared by French riot police after fears were raised that the Paris site was becoming a hotspot for festering diseases and an ‘open-air toilet’.
More than 1,850 UK-bound migrants were crammed into the Eole gardens, using old tents, broken furniture and other provisions to create a home while waiting for a permanent home in Europe.
Getty Images
Riot police moved in to clear the gardens of migrants who had made their home in the shanty town
Getty Images
The more than 1800 migrants were given no warning before they were put onto buses and dispersed to different areas of France
Getty Images
Those living in the Eole gardens did not know the are would be cleared with a surprise raid by French riot police
Getty Images
Thousands of people were packed onto buses to be moved to a different location with some worried they would be separated from friends and family
Getty Images
Concerns have been raised that more migrants will simply replace those who have been moved on from Eole gardens
Rex Features
The squalid conditions sparked concerns that disease would fester in the area with locals saying the area had become an ‘open air toilet’
Rex Features
Riot police moved through the area after locals flagged concerns the area was getting out of control
Rex Features
Rubbish was strewn throughout the park sparking health concerns that disease would fester in the area
Rex Features
Migrants had only just been cleared out of the area a month ago with some predicting others would continue to replace those just moved
Getty Images
Migrants stand as they wait to board a bus to a new home. The new homes are expected to be across Paris and France
But pictures taken during the evacuation of the makeshift tent town, close to the Gare Du Nord in the 19th arrondissement, revealed the squalor the thousands of migrants were living in.
Despite charity groups like the Salvation Army providing support in the form of tents and food, the shanty town had quickly descended into an unhygienic mess with migrants forced to wash and drink at standpipes, using the park as a toilet.
Fears that the sub-par sanitary conditions would see an outbreak of scabies and other serious contagious diseases sparked the police intervention.
Riot police pushed their way into the rubbish-strewn gardens, close to the Eurostar hub, soon after 6am on Monday in the second evacuation of the site in just a month.
Migrants were left surprised by the evacuation, after having just received more provisions to support them.
“We were not expecting this,” said Tegani Ugomai, a 26-year-old from Darfur in Sudan, who has been travelling with five other young men.
“Tents and food were being handed out over the weekend, but now we are all being split up. The French do not want us here.”
Rex Features
Tents filled the area with little processes to keep the park clean. Supplies were strewn across the Eole park
Rex Features
Riot police moved quickly into the campsite to move migrants on without any notice
Rex Features
Fears that scabies and other infectious diseases would run rampant through the area were raised
Rex Features
Migrants were dispersed to different areas including gyms after the area was cleared out by riot police
Rex Features
The squalid conditions of the shanty town were revealed as police made their way into the gardens
Rex Features
The area has been described as an open-air toilet with migrants being moved on from the area due to the concerns
Rex Features
Riot police came into the camp in the early hours of the morning to the surprise of migrants who had been in the park for weeks
Rex Features
About 60 buses were brought in to move the huge numbers of people who had made the gardens their temporary home
Rex Features
Tents had been given out by charities like The Salvation Army but the area still struggled to stay ordered and clean
Getty Images
Migrants had only recently been given blankets and other provisions from charities before being moved on
The park has also been plagued by violence as gangs from different nationalities, including Afghans, Sudanese and Eritreans, clashed.
The desperate migrants were also tempted with people smugglers hanging around the area to offer passages to London, via train or plane, for the equivalent of around £2,000, with a ‘temporary passport’ included.
The huge numbers of migrants were put onto a fleet of hired coaches then distributed to about 60 temporary accommodation centres, including gyms, across other parts of France.
Getty Images
Tensions between different migrant groups have caused conflict in the campsite with violence often breaking out
Getty Images
Migrants were moved quickly as soon as riot police, kitted out with protection gear and face masks, arrived at the gardens
Getty Images
Authorities have said migrant camps are not the answer to housing those newly arrived in Europe despite plans for a more permanent facility to be established
Getty Images
A migrant looks out of his tent as the scenes unfold. Many had been forced to use public standpipes to wash and drink from
Getty Images
Locals were concerned that the lack of hygiene would cause health problems in the area including an outbreak of scabies
Getty Images
Refugees and migrants had only just arrived in France before being moved on from the rubbish-strewn gardens
Getty Images
Thousands of people had made the area their home, using makeshift tents and mattresses they had managed to accumulate
Getty Images
Refugees from Afghanistan sit in a tent before they are made to move on. Those living in the area ranged from children to the elderly
Getty Images
The site is close to the Gare du Nord with people smugglers hanging around the area to offer passages to London, via train or plane, for the equivalent of around £2,000
But concerns have been flagged that the numbers will surge upwards once again with many of those camped out in other areas making their way straight to Eole park.
Migrants had set up the camp in the park after Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced that the city’s first-ever international refugee camp will be built outside the French capital later this summer.
French housing minister Emmanuelle Cosse was present at the ‘evacuation’, after saying: ‘Camps are not the solution.
“The solution is to receive people in different locations in existing structures so they can be integrated in our country.”
France remains in a state of emergency following last year’s terrorist attacks, during which Islamic State killers slept rough in Paris, and travelled across Europe as refugees, before murdering almost 150 people in the city.
