French authorities have finally begun the demolition of the notorious Jungle camp in Calais

French authorities have finally begun the demolition of the notorious Jungle camp in Calais, where several thousand migrants and refugees live.

Riot police entered the camp early on Monday morning, to assist in the clearing up of a part of the camp where French authorities are set to bulldoze a 330ft 'buffer zone' between the camp and the adjacent motorway, which leads to the ferry port.

Last week, the local government in Calais announced that a third of the camp, an area home to some 1,500 of the camp's 6,000 residents, was to be destroyed, and those living in the area moved to purpose-built housing. 

A Lady ready to be moved

However, as the new £20million camp could only process some 50 people per day, both refugees and volunteers have been worried that hundreds of Jungle residents would be left without shelter.

Over the weekend, desperate residents have been carrying their wooden shacks to safety after being warned that bulldozers would arrive first thing on Monday morning.

Mohammed Adam, a doctor from Sudan, who lives in the part of the Jungle camp to be destroyed, said: 'We asked them to give us enough time to prepare a new area and move the houses in a safe way. We have no time.'

Men gathered in groups to lift up with wooden huts and carry them along the road despite the ice-cold wind lashing the camp. They were then loaded on the back of trailers to be driven away to safety.

Meanwhile other refugees were pictured gathering up all their possessions including mattresses and cooking equipment in bags and backpacks ready for the move. The migrants have been offered places in new refitted shipping containers, equipped with heating and sockets for electricity. 

But only a few dozen can move each day and very few want to go to the new container camp, fearing they could be permanently trapped there and unable to continue their desperate attempts to get across the Channel to Britain.

They are wary of the new camp, particularly the hand-print scanners used to come and go - fearing that giving this data will stop them applying for asylum in Britain if they ever manage to smuggle themselves across the Channel.

The new camp, built by French authorities at a cost of £20million, consists of metal transport containers which have been converted into heated homes, complete with power sockets, heated towel rails, toilets and washing facilities.

Charities complained that they had not been given enough time to move more than 1,500 people, including 300 women and 60 children, into the new container housing. 

Authorities are cautious not to allow housing to attract more migrants, and the goal is to reduce the Calais migrant population to 2,000, with between 50 and 150 migrants said to be arriving in the area Calais every day.

Many living in the camp have fled conflicts in Syria, Libya and sub-Saharan Africa, while others have arrived by land, often travelling from places like Afghanistan via the Balkans.

In July 2015, in response to the criticism about the conditions by the UN and other aid groups, France vowed to spend €500,000 (£360,000) improving the camp, which lies close to the English Channel.

But news of the investment provoked a furious response earlier this year from France's former employment minister Xavier Bertrand, who blamed Britain's 'black jobs market' for attracting thousands of migrants to Calais.