Police clear migrant camp in central Paris in pre-Olympics sweep, say aid groups

Activists helped migrants pack their belongings after they were woken before dawn by officers (Nicolas Garriga/AP)

French police have evicted migrants from a makeshift camp in Paris a few steps from the River Seine in the latest operation in what aid groups call a campaign of “social cleansing” ahead of the Summer Olympics.

Around 30 teenage boys and young men from West Africa were woken before dawn by officers and urged to pack their tents and belongings. Most of them were underage and in the process of seeking residency papers.