Dou-La-Fontaine: French President Francois Hollande on Saturday urged Britain to take in 1,500 unaccompanied minors from Calais' "Jungle" as officials stepped up efforts to finish demolishing the almost-deserted migrant camp.
Hailing the evacuation of the sprawling encampment, Hollande vowed that France would not accept the emergence of any more makeshift camps, which have become a glaring symbol of Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II.
He pledged youngsters left at a container camp near the site would be "very quickly dispatched" to reception centres, with the hope that they would eventually be taken in by Britain.
"We had to rise to the challenge of the refugee issue. We could not tolerate the camp and we will not tolerate any others," he said while visiting a reception centre in Doue-la-Fontaine in western France.
"There are 1,500 unaccompanied minors left in Calais and they will be very quickly dispatched to other (reception) centres," he added.
Hollande said he had spoken with British Prime Minister Theresa May to ensure that British officials would "accompany these minors to these centres and would play their part in subsequently welcoming them to the United Kingdom."
Meanwhile on the ground, three huge diggers moved in to clear the debris of makeshift dwellings in the northern section of the camp which until Tuesday had been home to between 6,000 and 8,000 migrants.
Many tents and shacks had been ravaged as huge fires ripped through the camp on Wednesday. Around a dozen riot police trucks were posted at the camp's entrance, where skips were in place to take away piles of debris.
Officials hope to complete the clearance by Monday night and on Saturday morning there was little sign of life save for workmen and police.
French MPs appeal to London
In Paris, more than 100 leftwing lawmakers sent a letter to British Home Secretary Amber Rudd, calling on her government to "immediately" take in unaccompanied minors from the Jungle who want to rejoin relatives in the UK.
The letter, a copy of which was sent to AFP by the deputy president of the National Assembly, Sandrine Mazetier, said 1,500 unaccompanied minors had been placed in safety in the provisional reception centre -- a container camp -- in Calais.
"(They) are not seeking any favours: they have the right, in line with current international regulations and British law, to go to Britain.
"Their transfer to Britain is urgent. We ask you to take your responsibilities and assume your moral duty by immediately organising their arrival."
Britain's Help Refugees charity estimated that as of late Friday there remained over 1,000 unaccompanied children living in the container camp.
Since mid-October, Britain has taken in 274 children from the Jungle, mostly youngsters with relatives already living in the country.
Children who had been told they were headed for Britain to join family there were getting ready on Saturday, hoping to be on their way later in the day.
New arrivals in Paris
Migrants, mainly from Afghanistan, Sudan and Eritrea, had flocked to the camp near the northern port of Calais in the hope of making it across the Channel to Britain.
Clare Moseley, founder of British charity Care4Calais, expressed concern for those who had been evacuated. "We are worried about what happens next -- there will be multitude of small camps where conditions are even worse than in the Jungle," she said.
Many Calais locals also fear the Jungle will simply spring back up again once the current clearance operation is over.
In a separate development, officials said that more than 2,000 migrants were sleeping on the streets of northern Paris, with Hollande pledging that these new arrivals would also be evacuated.
"Those who have gone to Paris are not people who have come from Calais. There are perhaps a few. However there was a new migration wave of people coming from Libya in recent weeks and months who have headed for Paris," he said,.
"We are going to do the same as we did in Calais," the French leader said, meaning makeshift camps in Paris would be evacuated.
"I have been perfectly clear: those who have a right to claim asylum will go to welcome and orientation centres, and those who don't will be shown the door," he said, referring to their imminent deportation.
