French police Monday evicted more than 1,000 people from a migrant camp near a Paris metro station which had seen increased violence and deteriorating living conditions, AFP reported.
Just after 6:00 am, people who had been staying in the cramped tented encampment under a section of the Stalingrad metro station began boarding buses to transport them to reception centers where they can apply for asylum.
Police said the camp evacuation passed calmly, without major incidents.
Although the night before only about 500 people had been counted at the camp, police said some 1,350 people gathered at the camp on Monday to be relocated, possibly from other camps around Paris.
The migrants - most of whom are from Sudan and Afghanistan - are expected to request asylum, Jean-Francois Carenco, prefect of the Ile de France, told AFP.
"Those who do not request asylum or who behave badly will be expelled," Carenco said. "France is not a place for disorder and chaos."
Some 80,000 people applied for asylum in France last year, but it has remained less harshly affected than its neighboring countries facing a mass influx of refugees and migrants.
