Paris mayor says wants to create refugee camp

Authorities are assessing sites for their suitability to host a camp 'as soon as possible', says Anne Hidalgo

PARIS: The mayor of Paris said Tuesday she wanted to create a refugee camp in the French capital to replace makeshift camps that are swiftly closed down for health reasons.

City authorities are "assessing different sites" for their suitability to host a camp "as soon as possible", Mayor Anne Hidalgo told a press conference.

EN DIRECT sur #Periscope : #RefugeesWelcome https://t.co/EYatx1Pal7

— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) May 31, 2016

She said the current situation was no longer "tenable", pointing to the example of a makeshift camp that had sprung up in the north of Paris in the past few days where 800 people are living.

She said the Paris camp would be inspired by the one created at Grande-Synthe in northern France, which was built to take in refugees from the notorious Jungle camp in the northern port city of Calais.