Clashes break out as France begins clearing Calais migrant camp

Updated: 2016-03-01 09:29

(Agencies)

French CRS riot police watch as smoke and flames billow from a burning makeshift shelter during a protest by migrants against the partial dismantlement of the camp for migrants called the "jungle", in Calais, northern France, February 29, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

On Thursday, a judge upheld a government order to evict migrants living in the southern part of the camp, although a few makeshift buildings of social importance such as a school and a theatre are to remain untouched.

Thousands of migrants fleeing war and poverty, from Afghanistan to Syria, have converged on the northern port over the past year.

Many attempt to climb illegally onto trains using the Channel Tunnel or into lorries heading to Britain where they hope to settle. Their presence has led to tension with some of the local population and to a permanent police deployment.

Earlier on Monday at another European migrant crisis flashpoint, Macedonian police also fired tear gas to disperse hundreds who stormed the border from Greece. The migrants had torn down a gate as frustrations boiled over at restrictions imposed on people moving through the Balkans.