On the nearby Avenue de Flandre live the Sudanese and the Somalis. Their tents line the central reservation of the broad avenue, where migrants hang out their washing on lines tied between trees and where the ground is strewn with rubbish and bits of furniture.

“I want to go to the UK but I won’t go via Calais, because the camp there is gone,” said Aslan, an Afghan who said he was 17.

“I have to get out of here. I’m in a tent with two other people and it’s cold and wet and the rain comes through,” he said. His Afghan friends all said they were intent on making it to England, where they believe they will easily find a job.