Grande-Synthe (France) (AFP) - A huge fire has destroyed one of the biggest migrant camps in France housing 1,500 people, which started after a brawl involving hundreds of Afghans and Kurds, officials and police said Tuesday.
The Grande-Synthe facility near the northern French port of Dunkirk was the only one in the area and provided hundreds of wooden huts for shelter, as well as cooking facilities and showers.
"There is nothing left but a heap of ashes," Michel Lalande, prefect of France's Nord region, told reporters overnight as firefighters battled the flames which were visible from several kilometres (miles) away.
For more than a decade France's northern coast has been a magnet for refugees and migrants trying to reach Britain, causing tension between the two neighbours.
"There must have been fires deliberately set in several different places, it is not possible otherwise," said Olivier Caremelle, chief of staff of Grande-Synthe mayor Damien Careme, an environmentalist who supported the building of the camp last year.
"It seems that it is related to fights between Iraqis and Afghans," he said.
One resident, Emal, told AFP that the fighting had started after a football match between Afghans when the ball struck a Kurd from Iraq "who insulted the Afghan people".
The Afghans tried to catch him but he managed to escape before returning with a gang of armed friends, Emal said.
A police source, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said there had been several bouts of fighting which culminated in a massive brawl involving around 600 people at 9:30 pm (1930 GMT) Monday.
Lalande said the fighting had left six injured with knife wounds.
We need to import more refugees to counterbalance the shitty ones. And we need to integrate them better. Of course they gonna riot when we put them in a ghetto, you would too.
William Ward
The migrants have been evacuated and will be sent to emergency accommodation, with two gymnasiums nearby already made available, Mr Lalande said. What next after the Jungle? There have been several violent incidents at the Grande-Synthe camp, which was built by the charity MSF (Doctors Without Borders) and opened in March 2016. Six people were left injured with knife wounds after the fight that started the blaze. Police intervened last month after five men were injured in a fight, and another man was stabbed in November, AFP reported.
Carson Bell
Yeah, real fucking cool. Let's get more of these people who burn down their own housing over some insulting words.
I beg of the gods to unleash a plague that will rid us from this fate.
Juan Garcia
A FUCKING TOOTHPASTE
Ethan Thomas
Yeah of course I would stab my neighbors and then burn my neighborhood down. What rational person wouldn't?
Joshua Watson
>Of course they gonna riot when we put them in a ghetto, you would too. Ah, yea no. White people make areas better. White people make ghettos not ghettos.
Charles Jackson
More photos
Jackson Wright
Another photo
Ian Howard
Leaving nothing but ashes
Grayson Hughes
So what happens with these refugees now? We make another pretty home for then?
Benjamin Edwards
keep posting pics. thx
Samuel Perez
...
Michael Roberts
purge the iraqis
Jaxson Peterson
foto
Kevin Morales
Looks very appealing
Jordan Green
...
Christian Martin
Sad
Zachary Nelson
FIRE! HELLFIRE!
Jackson Foster
...
Cooper Perez
What an unfortunate occurrence. Looks like France should put all those (((migrants))) in better housing so they can stay and be safe.
Afterall you wouldn't want to be seen racist and inhumane would you now?
Joseph Phillips
They should have even better housing than French citizens!
