The last makeshift structures have been razed in the so-called "Jungle" camp near Calais, officials said. At the same time, workers started clearing off a street near a similar camp in Paris.
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The week-long efforts to clear up the "Jungle" were completed in Calais on Monday, according to the authorities. Only three buildings, two mosques and a church, were left standing out of consideration to some 1,500 unaccompanied minors still living in a container center near camp grounds.
My picture of the week | Smoke over the Calais 'Jungle' camp
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In previous days, French officials evacuated some 6,000 people out of the camp and moved them to hundreds of accommodation centers across the country.
The sprawling camp at one point held a total of 10,000 migrants from Africa and the Middle East. Most of them chose Calais for the chance to stowaway on trucks or trains leading to the UK, and dozens of them reportedly died while trying to sneak through the 50-kilometer (31-mile) underground tunnel.
Also on Monday, police in riot gear were checking asylum seekers' papers in Paris amid signals that a similar camp in the capital would also be cleared soon. The improvised settlement near the subway station Stalingrad currently houses around 3,000 people.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo wrote to Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve on the same day, warning of the "dramatic humanitarian and sanitary situation" in the northeast of the city.
Hidalgo's deputy Ian Brossat told France Info radio on Monday that the Stalingrad camp was a "disgrace to the country" and that it had to be dismantled. Paris police have run thirty separate operations to clear camps around the city since mid-2015, he added.
"We want to escape from this vicious cycle between encampment and evacuation and evacuation to new encampment," he said.
Workers with an earth mover started removing tents and mattresses from a street near the Paris camp on Monday.
From Calais to Paris to...
Police began tearing down a makeshift camp in Paris after thousands of refugees evicted from the "Jungle" camp in Calais relocated to the French capital. Many still want to return to Calais and travel on to the UK.
Image: Reuters/C. Platiau
Tearing down Paris tent camp
Police in Paris stand guard as demolition crews work to remove tents, sleeping bags and mattresses from the sidewalk near the Stalingrad metro station. Numbers at the Paris camp swelled to 3,000 after the Calais camp was razed.
Image: Reuters/C. Platiau
Final clear out?
Women in Paris wait in the cold for buses to bring them to reception centers in other parts of France. The Paris camp has been already cleared out twice in recent months. Officials hope setting up reception centers will prevent future makeshift camps from forming.
Image: Reuters/B. Tessier
No home in Paris
Thousands of refugees from the now-demolished "Jungle" camp had come to the French capital hoping to return to Calais and again try to reach the UK.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Y. Valat
Bonjour Paris
Some migrants had set up their tents in the French capital after they left Calais. The number of migrants on Paris' street increased by a third after the "Jungle" was closed.
Image: Reuters/C. Platiau
Homeless in Europe
Migrants who arrived in France last year were mostly from Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea and Sudan. They would often try to escape through the English Channel to Britain, stowed away in trucks and cars.
Image: Reuters/P. Rossignol
Calais eviction day
A group of young migrant boys stand near the "Jungle" in Calais. Camp residents lit several fires as police evacuated around 10,000 refugees from the area on October 26.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/E. Laurent
Leaving Calais
Around 10,000 refugees had made the "Jungle" their home while trying to make their way to the UK. Calais officials had been struggling to relocate camp residents amid protests.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/T. Camus
The 'Jungle'
Apart from container sheltes, migrants at the Calais camp had to often live in squalid tents which offered little protection from rough weather.
Image: Reuters/P. Wojazer
An embarrasment for Europe
French President Francois Hollande has promised no one will be able to resettle at the refugee camp in Calais. The "Jungle" had become a symbol of Europe's migrant crisis.