Paris police clear 'Stalingrad' migrant camp

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS (AA) – French riot police began Friday to clear a major makeshift camp around the Stalingrad metro station in Paris.

Officers arrived at the camp at 5.30 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) and told the nearly 4,000 residents to pack only their personal belongings. The operation is ongoing.

Paris prefecture said over 600 officers, 250 volunteers and more than 80 buses were mobilized.

Around 3,800 people have already boarded transports out of the area, according to police.

The thousands of refugees and migrants will be distributed across 74 accommodation centers in the greater Paris region of Ile-de-France.

Amid tense scenes on Monday, riot police and sanitary workers -- backed by a bulldozer -- cleared residents’ tents, mattresses and personal belongings.

French president Francois Hollande vowed last week to clear all Paris migrant camps following the closure of the so-called ‘Jungle’ Calais camp -- previously home to up to 7,000 people.

According to Paris city hall, the number of migrants and refugees on the capital’s streets surged by about a third since the Calais camp was cleared.

The area around both Stalingrad and Jean Jaures metro stations on the edge of the crowded 18th and 19th districts of Paris is frequently the site of makeshift camps.

Since June 2015, there have been at least nine evacuations from the area according to Paris police figures.

Although Friday's operation has been the most comprehensive effort to clear Stalingrad, with continuing arrivals from elsewhere in Europe, a return of the camps cannot be ruled out.