The Jungle migrant camp at Calais has become the symbol of Europe’s immigration problem – thousands of people living in squalid conditions. As police move in to clear the camp Paul Raymond looks back

Calais has lived with migrants for years but when the latest camp on the city's edge sprang up around a day centre it grew rapidly into a demoralising symbol of Europe's migrant crisis.

Despite efforts to cut numbers by dismantling the slum's southern section earlier this year, migrants from countries including Sudan, Syria and Eritrea continued to arrive at the muddy, rat-infested shanty-town.

For the residents, many of whom have fled poverty, persecution and war in their home countries, the prospect of a new life in Britain is irresistible.

But getting to the UK illegally is dangerous.

The death toll among migrants in Calais this year stands at 14. The latest fatality was an Eritrean man killed after being struck by a vehicle driven by a Briton on the A16 motorway.

The desperation among refugees and migrants was highlighted by the case of Abdul Rahman Haroun, from Sudan, who walked the 31-mile length of the Channel Tunnel to reach Folkestone.

Life for those in the Jungle camp and others in northern France is grim. Unicef has reported children being subjected to sexual exploitation, violence and forced labour on a daily basis.

The charity also revealed cases of boys and girls being raped, and young women being subjected to sexual demands in exchange for a promise of passage to Britain.

The dire conditions have led to repeated calls for the British and French governments to speed up the transfer of unaccompanied children out of the camp.

Amid the destitution, however, grew an underlying sense of community - fostered by charity workers and entrepreneurial migrants.

Kids' Cafe became the epicentre of debate around the camp when it was threatened with closure by French officials.

Recognisable by its vibrant paintwork, the makeshift eatery provided free food, asylum advice and language classes for minors - and was spared demolition after a petition was signed by 170,000 people.

Ramshackle places of worship including churches and mosques were also peppered across the vast site, while a host of improvised restaurants and convenience shops provide for the needs of others.

While the Jungle of today may be the most drastic incarnation of the refugee camp at the country's northern point, it was by no means the first.

In 1999, the Sangatte refugee camp in Calais became home to thousands of migrants, scores of whom made daily attempts to reach the UK illegally.

It was closed in 2002.

But Calais and nearby Dunkirk remained a magnate for the displaced over the course of the next decade.

As seas of refugee shelters became a regular fixture of the Calais landscape, "the Jungle" become shorthand for migrant settlements that sprang up there.

French president Francois Hollande announced plans to close the camp earlier this year.

As France gears up for next year's presidential election, Mr Hollande has appeared keen to adopt a firmer stance on the camp, which has become a symbol of his government's failure to tackle the migrant crisis and a target of criticism from conservative and far-right rivals.

And stark warnings were issued last week by one of the men hoping to replace Mr Hollande, Alain Juppe, who signalled that he wanted to push the border back to the British side of the Channel.

Meanwhile, the actions of migrants attempting to enter Britain via the French ports has caused relentless problems for British truckers and led to repeated cross-Channel disruption for travellers.

The arrival of many lone migrant children has also stretched services in Britain, with Kent County Council reporting demand for foster carers reaching crisis point partly because of the new arrivals.

Meanwhile, work continues on a UK-funded £1.9 million wall in Calais aimed at preventing migrants from boarding lorries heading to the ports.

The Jungle closure plan will see migrants being held at one of more than 160 reception centres in regions across France for up to four months while authorities investigate their cases.

An emergency legal bid by several aid groups to delay the closure of the Jungle was rejected by a court in Lille earlier this month.