Where is the Paris migrant camp, how many refugees will live there and which countries have they come from?
New centre opens in the heart of French capital which some fear will lead to more immigrants heading to the UK
THE first ever dedicated refugee camp in Paris has opened its doors for the first time sparking fears it will become a stop-off point for UK-bound migrants.
The bizarre-looking £6m facility, which is in a former bus shelter in the north of the French capital, is close to the Gare du Nord Eurostar hub used by thousands of Brits everyday.
As there are only 400 places, demand will be extremely high for the beds, showers, kitchens and even a football pitch that it will provide.
Residents will be allowed to stay for up to 10 days at a time, meaning they can plan their journeys to Britain before moving on.
Others will be transferred to accommodation centres designated for those seeking asylum in France.
The opening of the men's centre comes a week after police cleared a camp in northeast Paris where 3,800 people had been living in tents and mattresses under an overhead metro line.
Last month, authorities also demolished the notorious "Jungle" shantytown in the northern port of Calais - the main launchpad for migrants' attempts to cross the Channel to Britain.
Where is the new migrant camp and how big is it?
The £6m site is near Porte de la Chapelle and within walking distance of the bustling Gare du Nord rail station - which offers direct access to the UK via Eurostar.
However it will not provide long term lodgings, with occupants only able to stay for a maximum of 10 days, after which the migrants will be moved on to specific accommodation designated for asylum seekers.
During their stay they will be given access to help in processing their asylum applications, as well as food and medical care.
Authorities hope the camp will put an end to the squalid makeshift settlements that regularly spring up in the city.
The camp however has a capacity of 400, 80 new arrivals a day - well below the kind of numbers who have been sleeping rough in make shift camps in Paris in the last two years.
Eight ‘villages’ for 50 people have been built, and there will be 120 full-time workers, and 500 volunteers on duty at the site.
Its opening follows riot police last week helping to clear some 4,000 migrants who were living in illegal camps nearby.
The week before, the so called ‘Jungle’ refugee camp in Calais was also emptied and flattened, displacing up to 8,000 migrants.
However, even though the facility offers and roof and hot running water not every migrant is happy.
Some have complained that the centre resembles a detention centre.
It is surrounded by fences, and includes sophisticated security gates where anyone going in or out with be strictly monitored.
Are the locals happy?
Not surprisingly no.
Many fear the centre will become a magnet for criminals who have little or nothing to lose.
They also believe it will attract thousands MORE young men from countries like Afghanistan and Eritrea.
"It will certainly be a magnet," said Gilles Kateb, a pensioner who lives nearby.
"They should send them all directly to England instead!
"Instead we will have to put up with thousands of unsettled young men living among us while wanting to be somewhere else.
"Crime will increase, and those not let into the centre will carry on living on the streets nearby."
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