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Paris evacuates 1,850 refugees from city camp

Refugees stand next to their tents during the evacuation of the camp at Jardin d'Eole park in Paris on June 6, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Authorities in France have evacuated 1,850 refugees from a makeshift camp in the north of the country’s capital, Paris.

Local officials said on Monday that the refugees and asylum-seekers were living in tent camps put up at Jardin d'Eole Park, which had also been evacuated a month ago.

Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of the French capital city, said there had been 1,300 people at the camp on Sunday, but the numbers surged as word spread that they would be re-accommodated.

The refugees - mostly Afghans, Sudanese and Eritreans - were taken by bus to about 60 different reception centers in the Paris region, Hidalgo said, adding that it was the 23rd operation of its kind in the capital since June last year. 

France has struggled to cope with the high number of refugees and asylum-seekers arriving in the country in the last two years, with hundreds sleeping in camps that spring up before being closed by the police.

The European country accepted to take in 400 refugees a month from Greece as part of a European Union relocation deal it signed in September last year.

Under the deal, France agreed to receive a total of 30,000 refugees, but has so far only taken in 500.

Europe is facing an unprecedented influx of refugees, who are fleeing conflict-ridden zones in Africa and the Middle East, particularly Syria.

Many blame major European powers for the unprecedented exodus, saying their policies have led to a surge in terrorism and war in those regions, forcing more people to flee their homes.


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