Three make-shift migrant camps have been evacuated and destroyed in Calais.
About 200 riot police surrounded the camps housing migrants from Africa, the Middle East and Asia after a deadline to leave expired.
The Governor of the Pas-de-Calais region, Denis Robin, cited insanitary conditions in the camps and a scabies outbreak that he said was beginning to spread into the town of Calais.
Migrants' representatives were said to be in talks about whether they would accept an offer from the authorities of being rehoused elsewhere in exchange for a promise they would not be arrested.
Only one migrant so far has reportedly accepted this offer. They are thought to be reluctant to take alternative accommodation outside Calais as they hope to get into Britain.
The French government closed the Sangatte Red Cross centre, near Calais, in 2002 after repeated lobbying by the then home secretary David Blunkett. The camp was said to have been a staging post for thousands of migrants entering the UK illegally.
"This is sad, and it changes nothing," said Jalal, an Iraqi in his 20s who watched as police moved in.
"I'll move my tent somewhere else ... but I am staying put [in Calais].
"What else can I do? I will try again to make the crossing. I did not come here just to give up now."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article