Court Rejects Bid to Shut Camp Near Chunnel
A court in Lille, France, rejected a bid by Channel tunnel operator Eurotunnel to close a refugee camp that it alleged was a hub for illegal immigration into Britain, a judicial source said.
The ruling came a day before British Home Secretary David Blunkett was to meet his French counterpart to demand action on the Sangatte camp, where about 1,600 refugees are housed near a French tunnel terminal.
The judicial source said the administrative court turned down the company’s request for a suspension of the Red Cross-run camp ahead of a more thorough judicial review on the facility’s future that is expected to take several months.
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