01/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - A week after the removal of the Calais “jungle”, CIMADE (the only French association to have a presence in detention centres and which is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year), comments that the operation is a failure for the French government. One hundred and twenty-two of the 138 illegal aliens, mostly from Afghanistan, who were arrested after the operation on 22 September, have been released. AFP reports a CIMADE manager commenting that, according to the aims decided by the authorities, the operation is a failure, but looking beyond that, it is striking that it did not respect the rights of individuals, and that the judges sanctioned this. The French immigration minister Eric Besson disagrees, describing the operation as a “success” and pointing out that the aim had been achieved of destroying an unhealthy camp used as a stop-off point for illegal immigrants heading for the United Kingdom. (B.C./transl.fl)