First Paris refugee camp to open in mid-October

Paris will open its first refugee camp in mid-October, Mayor Anne Hidalgo said Tuesday, unveiling plans to take hundreds of people off the streets as France struggles to accommodate migrants. The camp, which will have an initial capacity of 400 and be solely for men travelling alone, will be set up in a disused railway […]

Paris will open its first refugee camp in mid-October, Mayor Anne Hidalgo said Tuesday, unveiling plans to take hundreds of people off the streets as France struggles to accommodate migrants.
The camp, which will have an initial capacity of 400 and be solely for men travelling alone, will be set up in a disused railway yard in the north of the French capital, Hidalgo said.
Asylum-seekers who would otherwise face sleeping rough, will be given a bed for “five to 10 days”. They will also have access to medical care while awaiting a place in a refugee hostel, the Socialist mayor told reporters.
France has received only a tiny proportion of the million-plus migrants who have crossed into Europe in the last 18 months, with many refugees seeing it mainly as a transit country to other destinations.