Clashes erupted between Kurdish and Afghan refugees in the Grande-Synthe migrant camp in France. As a result, the camp was burnt to the ground and over a dozen of people were injured.
More than a dozen of people have been injured in clashes between Kurdish and Afghan refugees in the Grande-Synthe migrant camp, which was later burnt to the ground. Reportedly, the camp, built by the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity, is home to some 1,500 migrants.
According to reports, the clashes erupted in the camp, located near the French city of Dunkirk, at around 11:00 pm due to alleged accommodation discrimination. Apparently, Afghan migrants, who came to the Grande-Synthe camp from the Calais Jungle, which was dismantled at the end of October 2016, were dissatisfied with the fact that they had been housed in collective kitchens, while Kurds had their own chalets.
Migrants evacuate a camp of closely-packed wooden huts at Grande-Synthe near Dunkirk, France, as a huge fire reduces it to ashes pic.twitter.com/T4u4DooIPQ
— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 11, 2017
Firefighters still have not determined the cause of the fire in the camp, but noted that it involved about 20 wooden chalets, each of which could house up to four persons. According to the AFP news agency, at least ten people had been injured in the blaze.
“There is nothing left but a heap of ashes,” prefect of France’s Nord region, Michel Lalande, told reporters at the scene. “It will be impossible to put the huts back where they were before.”