Hollande pledges to close Calais camp, relocate refugees ‘within weeks’

France President Francois Hollande has confirmed plans to close the Calais refugee camp in northern France and said thousands of people living in the camp could be relocated to reception centres across the country in the coming weeks.

About 9,000 places will be made available at “reception and orientation centres” for migrants living in the camp which is near the port city in northern France, Hollande said.

The migrants will be split into groups of 40 to 50 people for a limited period of three to four months, Hollande said. Those who fit the asylum criteria will be allowed to stay in France, while those who do not will be deported, he said.

“There should be no camp in France,” the French president said, adding that the goal was to dismantle it completely.

Speaking during a visit to one of France's 164 reception centres in the city of Tours, Hollande said conditions in the Calais camp are "not acceptable ... especially for those who fled war to get there".

Hollande, who is to visit Calais on Monday, insisted that "we cannot have such camps in France".

He said his country must show it is "capable of being dignified, humane and responsible".

The reception centres will hold 40-50 people for up to four months while authorities study their cases, Hollande said. People who do not seek asylum will be deported, he added.

Half of the Calais camp was dismantled in March but its population has since doubled. Hollande previously promised to shut down the camp by the end of the year, but did not give a firm timeline.

The plan to relocate the refugees to towns across France has prompted vehement protests from many local conservative and far-right politicians, who say they fear the consequences of having refugees in their towns.

Hollande indirectly criticised that resistance and called for more solidarity, noting that neighbouring Germany had taken in one million people, compared with the 9,000 that will be relocated from Calais.

Authorities have estimated that more than 5,000 people have left the Jungle for reception centres in the past year.

The squalid camp, which Hollande has become a symbol of the migrant crisis in France at a time when immigration is seen as a key theme in next year's presidential election.

Migrants from the camp regularly clash with the police as they try to make their way to Britain via the port.

Former president Nicolas Sarkozy visited Calais this week, as he campaigns for a return to the presidency next year, promising to be particularly tough on immigration.

About 7,000 migrants live in the remaining northern half of the camp, up from 4,500 in June, according to local authorities, although humanitarian groups put the number closer to 9,000.