By Hajer M'tiri
PARIS (AA) - Police on Wednesday removed an estimated 1,700 migrants from one of the largest makeshift migrant camps in northeast Paris, according to officials.
Most of the affected people were African migrants and refugees living in the “Millenaire” camp alongside the Saint-Denis canal.
"We do not really know where we are going, it was already hard here," Issam, a Libyan migrant who arrived in Paris seven months ago, told reporters while waiting to ride a bus with his bag on his back, according to Le Figaro.
Police said they were being shifted to temporary accommodation centers and gymnasiums in the Paris region.
The evacuation comes amid repeated calls made to the government by non-governmental organizations and the City Hall for "urgent action" to find a lasting solution to the issue.
"The other camps will be evacuated as soon as possible and if possible next week," Ile-de-France Prefect Michel Cadot told reporters.
He was referring to the Canal Saint-Martin, where some 800 migrants and refugees live, and the Porte de la Chapelle, which is home to some 300-400 people.
The deteriorating conditions at the camp and the increased risks to security and health there had sparked a row between city authorities and the Interior Ministry over finding a strategy to resolve the long-lasting crisis.
Two migrants had drowned this month in the canals along the encampments while others were reported injured amid rising tensions in the filthy and packed camps.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo had appealed to the government earlier this month to urgently provide shelter to migrants sleeping rough in deteriorating conditions and fix the “inhumane” situation.
In turn, the government insisted that unless the mayor initiates legal proceedings to evict migrants living there illegally, the problem is for her to solve. Many of the migrants are reportedly requesting asylum in the EU country where they were first registered under the Dublin convention.
The Interior Ministry has already carried out 35 such evacuation operations since 2015, clearing out some 28,000 migrants.