WORLD BRIEFING | EUROPE; France: 276 Migrants Arrested as Camp Is Dismantled
By NADIM AUDI
Published: September 23, 2009
French authorities dismantled and bulldozed a camp for illegal immigrants outside the port of Calais on Tuesday, rounding up almost 300 Afghans, Pakistanis and others who had gathered there for years in the hope of making clandestine journeys to Britain. Within half an hour, hundreds of paramilitary officers had dragged or escorted away the migrants, arresting 276 people, including 135 teenagers, like the Afghan boy at left. The camp, known as ''the jungle,'' had been used by migrants seeking to sneak across, or be smuggled across, the English Channel to Britain.