Refugee camp in Paris emptied, razed
PARIS -- Police on Wednesday cleared out about 1,000 people from the largest makeshift camp in the French capital that had become a focal point in France's immigration debate.
The mainly African refugees were moved out of their tent camp along a canal used by joggers and cyclists on Paris' northeast edge, put in buses and taken to gymnasiums in the region as bulldozers ripped out the tents. Several hundred of them apparently fled before the evacuation.
Two refugees drowned this month in canals along encampments and others have been injured amid rising tensions in the filthy, crowded camps, adding pressure for authorities to act. But the evacuation was delayed for months because of bickering over what to do with them.
The encampment held at least 1,400 people, officials have said, but 1,016 were evacuated. Two other makeshift camps in Paris holding about 1,000 people are expected to be cleared next week.
Police have cleared out some 28,000 people from Paris camps in the past three years, but the arrivals continue.
The camps have been at the heart of a political debate between French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo over how to handle the influx. The mayor and dozens of associations pressed for the refugees to be sheltered once dislodged from their encampments, as in the past. The minister dragged his feet.
Hidalgo, who has paid weekly visits to the encampment, said she felt good that the refugees were being taken to shelters, but "I think we could have done without the four-month wait."
Dutch officials seek Hells Angels ban
THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Dutch prosecutors have asked a judge to ban the Hells Angels motorcycle gang in the Netherlands, arguing that its members are part of "a subculture of lawlessness."
The appeal is not the first time Dutch authorities have gone after the gang. An earlier attempt to outlaw a local branch of the Hells Angels was rejected by Dutch courts, including by the country's Supreme Court in 2009.
Prosecutors said Wednesday that they handed to a court in the central Netherlands a dossier including hundreds of pages outlining the Hells Angels' activities. They said in a statement that the gang's members are involved in crimes such as extortion and intimidation.
Dutch prosecutors have in recent years gone after other motorcycle gangs, saying they form a threat to civil order.
U.N. presses Mexico on disappearances
MEXICO CITY -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for Mexico to take urgent action in the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo, where at least 23 people have disappeared since the start of February.
The human-rights authority says there are strong indications that a federal security force is responsible. It says a local human-rights organization believes there have been at least 40 such disappearances.
In a statement Wednesday, the U.N. office said it had documented the disappearances of 22 people, mostly males, including at least five minors.
According to statements to U.N. investigators, the disappearances typically occur at night while the victims are walking along or driving on roads. Sometimes their burned and bullet-riddled vehicles are found on roadsides.
Afghan forces repel ISIS attack in Kabul
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Islamic State militants, including two suicide bombers, attacked the Interior Ministry in Kabul, Afghan officials said Wednesday, but security forces managed to repel the militants, leaving all of them dead.
One policeman was killed and five were wounded in the attack, Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said.
The attack began about noon when 10 militants, dressed in military uniforms and riding in two armored vehicles, tried to storm the ministry compound in Kabul, Danish said.
Two of the attackers detonated their explosives, allowing eight others to pass through an outer gate at the ministry where they traded gunfire with security forces before they were eventually killed.
Hours after the attack, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.
A Section on 05/31/2018