A spokesman told London newspaper Evening Standard that the Home Office has "reluctantly" agreed to temporarily stop the transfer of child refugees.
"Due to planned operational activity in Calais, and at the request of the French authorities, we have reluctantly agreed that the transfer process will be temporarily paused," the Home Office said.
Clashes erupted between migrants living in the camp and riot police as the so-called Jungle camp was demolished. More than 1,200 police and officials had to be deployed while NGOs and aid workers voiced concern for the children.
"This is months of work packed into a small amount of time, we are really concerned that the children are going to be safeguarded after 129 went missing in February this year," Libby Freeman, founder of grassroots campaign group Calais Action told Sputnik.
"It's said that around 5,000 people are living in the camp — but it's actually more like 10,000," Libby Freeman said.
"Food is a real concern of ours as people are bussed out of the camp to centers around France, the authorities have kept us in the dark," she said.
We've come across many confused people in #CalaisJungle today. It's terrible that we're largely unable to help, as we too are in the dark. pic.twitter.com/hBYh2Ma9oY
— Doctors of the World (@DOTW_UK) October 24, 2016
The migrants had been warned they must leave the camp or face arrest as toxicity towards refugees and asylum seekers grows in France and over the English Channel in Britain.
The head of refugee crisis charity Care4Calais recently apologized after likening the treatment of asylum-seeking refugees by French authorities with the plight of Jews under the Nazis.
Calais police are ‘like Nazis’, says lefty charity @Care4Calais — today's Lefty Lunacy https://t.co/Ye6n1ZGNFb
— Conservative Woman (@TheConWom) October 24, 2016
Clare Mosely subsequently told British media that she "felt very bad" for making the comments citing "wild" emotions as her charity workers to prepare migrants physically and psychologically for the mass eviction of the jungle camp.
Britain's Home Secretary Amber Rudd, has told the House of Commons that 200 children have been transferred to the UK, including 60 young girls at risk of child sexual exploitation but only young people living in the camp will be considered for resettlement.
"What we need are transit centers. Don't ignore the reality because the #migrants will indeed come back" — @MSF on #Calais pic.twitter.com/IRXeFY804l
— MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) October 24, 2016
It might be the end for the Jungle camp in Calais — but while politicians fail to agree on a fair way of distributing and resettling migrants across the EU, more informal camps will open.
