French camp's migrants fear next move

CALAIS, France -- Migrants prayed, planned and played soccer together Sunday, a day before France starts clearing them by the thousands from a makeshift camp that is marked for destruction.

But the scene, which would pass for normal on another day at the slumlike camp in the northern port town of Calais, was anything but routine.

Today, 60 buses are to transport 3,000 migrants to reception centers scattered around France. By week's end, the camp, nicknamed "the Jungle," is to be emptied and destroyed.

"Tomorrow, the Jungle is finished. You know it, right?" Enrika Kareivaite, a volunteer with aid group Care4Calais, told a group of asylum seekers Sunday.

Police and volunteers will be on hand, she said, "and we will ask you to leave with us together, OK?"

The evacuation of at least 6,486 migrants -- aid groups have estimated 8,300 -- has been in the works for two months and is expected to take a week. It is unfolding as a complex ballet of lines, interviews and bus rides to the unknown.

The people at the camp, who will be allowed to pick two regions of a country they don't know as their intended destination, were just learning the details Sunday.

"The objective has been reached. We have more than 7,000 places. We have a place for everyone," Calais' social cohesion director, Serge Szarzynski, said Sunday.

But many migrants were unaware of how the operation was to proceed and unsure where their next landing place would be. Aid groups and official organizations still were putting out word that the camp's days were numbered.

Some people staying at the camp said they fear ending up in unwelcoming villages with few economic opportunities instead of in cities, a real possibility.

"And there are rumors here that they are taking them to warehouses," said Tariq Shinwari, a 26-year-old Afghan who has applied for asylum in France.

Shinwari said camp residents who want to reach the United Kingdom are more worried than those who hope to remain in France.

Calais lies on the French side of the English Channel, and migrants who have tried to board ferries and trucks making the crossing have repeatedly been turned back.

French authorities expect migrants bound for relocation centers in France to seek asylum in the country.

"Yes, starting tomorrow we will be living something exceptional," said Fabienne Buccio, the highest state official in the Pas-de-Calais region.

The camp, which sprang up 18 months ago in the sand dunes near the Calais port, is home to a population that fled wars and other crises, including those in Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Ethiopia.

The heart of the camp has been a church built by Ethiopians. With two crosses that dominate the landscape and a carefully decorated interior, it offered a wellspring of hope for the faithful, including those who attended a special four-hour service Sunday.

"This is a special service. The people are really fearing," said Salamin, a man who acts as church keeper and activity planner. Like many others on the cusp of the unknown, he gave only a single name.

A Section on 10/24/2016

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