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Paris – Police in Paris are evacuating hundreds of migrants from a tent camp near a major train station and tourist area, amid mounting frustration by residents.

The camp had become a symbol of Europe’s challenge of what to do with waves of migrants, many fleeing strife or deep poverty in Africa, arriving this year.

Dozens of police vehicles and garbage trucks surrounded the area on Tuesday morning, in the shadow of the famed Sacre Coeur basilica.

Migrants slowly gathered their blankets and meagre belongings, and mounted buses. They have been living near the Eurostar train tracks to Britain, below an elevated metro line, for months.

The migrants’ destination wasn’t immediately clear. Social worker Bruno Morel of aid group Emmaus said some will be taken to centres for asylum-seekers. — Al Jazeera