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A migrant makes a phone call by a makeshift shelter set on fire inside the migrant camp dubbed the "Jungle" during its demolition on the outskirts of Calais, France, on March 2, 2016. A court in Lille, France, upheld an expulsion order to clear part of the migrant camps.(Photo: Yoan Valat, European Pressphoto Agency)
CALAIS, France —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Rahmanjan Safy scrambled to salvage anything valuable from the demolished tents and makeshift shelters at this Calais migrant<span style="color: Red;">*</span>camp Wednesday,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>even as riot police and bulldozers destroyed the site.
Food, clothing, spoons —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>he picked up everything he could find.
Safy, 25, from Jalalabad, Afghanistan, has been in France since 2009. He once lived in this camp but now works with an organization that helps the migrants and refugees.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Driving his big white truck, he moved these precious commodities to a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>section of the camp still intact, so people could still use them.
“I once was in the same situation as them,” he said. “I never forgot. I want to help them.”
A<span style="color: Red;">*</span>judge gave the green light last week for<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the French government to tear down part of the Calais “Jungle,” as the camp<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is commonly called, but riots broke out this week amid the resulting chaos.
USA TODAY
Migrants in Calais protest over demolitions
Police and bulldozers<span style="color: Red;">*</span>began pushing migrants out of tents and temporary<span style="color: Red;">*</span>shelters Monday, tearing apart the ad<span style="color: Red;">*</span>hoc camp that houses<span style="color: Red;">*</span>an estimated 6,000 people.
Camp residents fought back,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>starting fires and attacking police with rocks.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The situation Wednesday was calmer, if not less tense. Confusion, uncertainty and sorrow still hang<span style="color: Red;">*</span>over the camp and the people who<span style="color: Red;">*</span>have no place to go.
An Iranian migrant with sewn lips, holds a placard reading, "Where is your democracy? Where is our freedom?", as he demonstrates during the demolition of the southern part of the so-called "Jungle" migrant camp in Calais, France, on March 2, 2016.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Philippe Huguen, AFP/Getty Images)
Ahmed Salah from Sudan stood amid trash and debris, mourning the loss of his home of seven months. He says he wants to leave<span style="color: Red;">*</span>but can't.
“I would go anywhere, not just to England," he said about wanting to cross the English Channel to the United Kingdom. "I don’t want to stay in France. They don’t respect their own laws.”
The French government initially announced its<span style="color: Red;">*</span>plan to dismantle the southern part of the camp —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>closer to the highway<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in early February. Migrants<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in that section would<span style="color: Red;">*</span>attempt to jump on trucks crossing through the Chunnel,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>despite barbed wire set up to protect the road.
The rest of the camp is being left alone —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>for the moment.
French authorities defended their move to dismantle part of the Calais camp, while also saying France remains open to refugees.
“Our policy is to support those who are in vulnerable situations,” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said before the dismantling<span style="color: Red;">*</span>operation began. “The state will continue its strategy of accompanying migrants toward a humanitarian solution that lives up to the values of our country and our tradition of welcoming those who seek asylum in France.”
But volunteers described how people rushed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to collect their few belongings in a short amount of time<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and tried to salvage parts of their shelters for protection against the cold weather.
“They gave people one hour to assemble their belongings,” said Christian Salome, founder and head of L’Auberge Des Migrants, the main organization that distributes<span style="color: Red;">*</span>food and clothes at the Calais camp. "It is sad and inhumane to expel people from their homes in the winter and by destroying their shelters."
Workers demolish a shelter in the makeshift migrant camp, the "Jungle.", in Calais, France, on March 2. 2016.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Yoan Valat, European Pressphoto Agency)
Other volunteers call the entire situation shameful.
“It is a political decision not to address this issue,” said Paul Bejannin, 30, a volunteer from Paris. “France has the means to accommodate everyone. And the only state presence we ever see here is the riot police.”
Many fear that with the conflicts intensifying in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the wave of refugees will be even greater this year.
“The only way to solve this is to move the UK to another place that doesn’t face Calais,” said Christophe Ruggia, an award-winning French director who mobilized<span style="color: Red;">*</span>dozens of artists to protest the country’s resistance to welcoming war refugees. “They are constantly reacting without a long-term vision.”
In downtown Calais, just a few miles from the camp, outrage over the situation has been growing for more than a year.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Business owners like Jean Claude Burei, who has a restaurant in town, want the government to find a long-term<span style="color: Red;">*</span>solution because the bad publicity over the camp<span style="color: Red;">*</span>keeps tourists away.
“The location of the camp has been a disaster for the city,” he said. “Some of these migrants are escaping war, but others have no reason to be here. ...<span style="color: Red;">*</span>We also need to expel those who create trouble, like smugglers who take advantage of people’s misery.”
French President François Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron will meet Thursday in Amiens, France, to discuss the ongoing migrant crisis ahead of next week's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>EU summit on the issue.
Hundreds of British volunteers at the Calais Jungle,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>like Malcom Mitchel, 69,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>do what they can.
“The 6,000 here is smaller than a crowd that goes to a (soccer) match,” he said. “There are a lot of people with potential here —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>doctors, engineers. We should open borders and let everybody in the United Kingdom.”
Amine Khan, 31, from northern Afghanistan, helplessly watched the bulldozers Wednesday and said his "home" will likely be next.
“I have no choice, I don’t know where I will go,” he said. "I will just keep trying to reach England.”
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