Court delays decision on Calais ‘Jungle’

A French court said on Tuesday it was delaying its ruling on the demolition of half of the ref-ugee camp in Calais kn-own as the “Jungle”, just hours before a dea-dline for residents to be evacuated. “We will not know today,” said a sou-rce in the court in the northern city of Lille, adding that a decision was not now expected until Wednesday or Thursday.

Emotions were running high in the “Jun-gle” on the outskirts of the northern port city of Calais, where many residents had refused to leave despite a 1900 GMT deadline to vacate the southern half of the camp.

The issue has played into the fraught discussions about Britain’s possible exit from the EU, with France under pressure to stop refu-gees trying to board lorries and ferries to cross the Channel.

Athens meanwhile expressed its “displeasure” to the EU over tougher border controls by Balkan countries that have left thousands of migrants stranded in Greece.

In a phone call with his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte, whose cou-ntry holds the rotating EU presidency, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipr-as’ also complained abo-ut being left out of a planned conference in Vienna on Wednesday involving countries alo-ng the migrant route through the western Balkans. “Decisions co-ncerning refugee flows must be taken collectively without exclusions,” Mr Tsipras told Rutte.

Greece began sending hundreds of Afghans from its clogged northern border back to Athens. The new emergency came as Greek authorities had barely completed migrant registration centres on the islands and relocation camps for refugees.

These facilities in Athens were already pushed to capacity after Macedonia on Sunday abruptly closed its border to Afghans and introduced more stringent document checks for Syrians and Iraqis.