'WE NEED TO ACT' Fears of new Jungle in Toulouse as town camp EXPLODES with 400 migrants
HUNDREDS of immigrants are said to be living in sordid conditions inside a gloomy disused warehouse in the south of France, sparking fears of another Jungle.
Toulouse residents fear a new jungle in their town as migrants move in to live in poor conditions
The migrants, who are living in cramped and increasingly precarious conditions, came to southern town of Toulouse alone or with their families, and have been 'abandoned' by local officials, charity workers claim.
No more than 10 migrants lived in the squatter settlement in November 2015; but the camp's population has exploded in size and is now home to more than 400 migrants from more than 20 countries.
Local charities, including Doctors Without Borders, are worried that the camp will become a mini inner city 'Jungle,' and say that conditions in the camp have become both dangerous and unhygienic.
The migrants live in tiny rooms - former office cubicles - filled with rubbish, do not have access to showers and do not have their own toilet, France Bleu reports.
The migrants live in former office cubicles transformed into rooms
One of the immigrants said the conditions made him feel 'not like a human being'
They took my phone and my wallet, beat me up with a bottle and threatened me with a knife
One Albanian immigrant told French daily France Bleu he did not feel like a "human being" and that the camp was "unsafe" for people to inhabit.
Samir, a 37-year-old Algerian immigrant, added three men had recently burst into his bedroom before attacking and robbing him: "They took my phone and my wallet, beat me up with a bottle and threatened me with a knife."
Thomas Couderette, a spokesperson for the French charity Cedis, has called for an emergency meeting with local officials to discuss the emerging crisis before it is "too late".
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He said: "We need to act now. Migrants keep pouring in and some arrive with babies who have never been vaccinated.."
Local officials, however, told France Bleu that they were trying to find a sustainable solution to the crisis.
Daniel Rouge, the deputy mayor in charge of solidarity and the fight against social exclusion, said that officials first had to find out who the migrants were - their age and nationality - before rehousing them.
Local charities are worried that the camp will become a mini inner city 'Jungle'
He said: "Some are from Romania and Bulgaria, and are therefore European; but others may have fled a war-torn country and are therefore eligible for asylum.
"But there are also asylum 'rejects' and paperless immigrants living in the camp. We will have to deal with them on a case-by-case basis, which will take time."
Cedis officials, however, say that, in the meantime, doctors and social workers should be sent to the squalid camp "in the briefest of delays".