Police in France have removed migrants from a makeshift camp near Dunkirk, where at least 1,500 people had assembled in the intention of crossing the English Channel to Britain, according to the Independent.
Early Tuesday morning, migrants, including several families with young children, were spotted packing their few possessions as police encircled the camp, which is located on the site of a former industrial complex in Grande-Synthe, and six buses lined up outside.
"When we dismantle a migrant camp, it's above all to send people into shelters, especially as winter approaches," said government spokesperson Gabriel Attal.
On Monday evening, French interior minister Gerald Darmanin and UK home secretary Priti Patel spoke on the phone about the issue of migrants trying to cross the Channel in small boats.
"We are going to maintain our operational co-operation and push up our collective action against traffickers' networks," Mr Darmanin tweeted, adding that officials will offer refuge for the migrants.
He also revealed that police in the Dunkirk area disrupted a smugglers' network, arresting 13 people, and that 1,308 persons suspected of being smugglers had been arrested since the beginning of the year.
Aid group Utopia 56 said several evacuations of camps in the region have been organised in the past month with no adapted response to take care of migrants.
The group stressed that the state organised no food distribution and provided no toilet and shower facilities in the camps.
Local authorities have warned of dire sanitary conditions and overcrowding in the area, risks associated with the fast-approaching winter and deepening tensions between migrants and traffickers that often turn violent.
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