Belgium Extends Border Controls With France Amid Calais Camp Demolition

Belgium has notified the European Commission that it has extended temporary controls on the coastal stretch of its border with France for 10 days to avoid an influx of migrants amid the ongoing dismantling of the refugee camp in the French port city of Calais, local media reported Thursday.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — Border control was also strengthened in the ports of Zeebrugge, Antwerp and Ostend, Le Soir newspaper reported. Initially, border controls were introduced on February 23 due to concerns that hundreds of migrants might try to enter Belgium following the destruction of the migrant camp in Calais.

Up to 6,000 migrants have been camping out for months on the outskirts of Calais, seeking to cross the Channel Tunnel and apply for asylum in the United Kingdom.

The operation to dismantle the makeshift camp began on Monday after a local court sanctioned the move. French authorities estimate that the southern part of the Calais camp, the one being dismantled, houses between 800 and 1,000 migrants. According to the estimates, it will take about a month to complete the demolition.

Individuals who have been living in the makeshift part of the camp are expected to be brought to migrant processing centers. They will be reportedly housed in nearby Calais or at other refugee centers across France.

The European Union is currently struggling to manage a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The EU border agency Frontex recorded more than 1.8 million illegal border crossings in the bloc in 2015.