Hollande vows to clear out Paris migrant camp - Action News
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Hollande vows to clear out Paris migrant camp

French President Francois Hollande is vowing to shut down a growing migrant camp in Paris, after his government cleared out 5,000 people from a camp in Calais in an effort to tackle the migrant crisis.

French president calls camps 'not worthy' of France

A migrant lays down a blanket on a mattress in Paris on Friday. A growing number of tents have sprung up between the city's Stalingrad and Jaurs metro stations since the Calais migrant shantytown closed early in the week. (AFP/Getty Images)

French President Francois Hollande is vowing to shut down a growing migrant camp in Paris, after his government cleared out 5,000 people from a camp in Calais in an effort to tackle the migrant crisis.

Hollande met with migrants Saturday brought from Calais to a reception centre in Doue-la-Fontaine in western France.

Migrants, many of whom are hoping to travel to the U.K., are living in squalid conditions in the French capital. (Goel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)
Many of the migrants are fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. (Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images)
It's believed some of the migrants setting up camp on Paris streets have travelled from the migrant camp in Calais. Media reports say the number of migrants sleeping in illegal camps in the French capital has increased by a third since the destruction of the Calais migrant camp early in the week. (Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images)
A migrant opens a milk box as he sits next to tents on a street of Paris on Friday. (Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images)

"We cannot tolerate camps," Hollande said, calling them "not worthy" of France. He said the latest camp to spring up in Paris will be evacuated, too.

About 1,500 underage migrants remain in Calais in a special shelter, and Hollande urged British authorities to "do their part" to settle them in Britain.

Calais is a magnet for migrants from the Mideast and Africa seeking to reach Britain, and its camp was a symbol of Europe's migrant crisis.