Belgium is to reintroduce border checks with France to block the entry of migrants and refugees evicted from the Jungle camp, the Belgian interior minister has said.

Jan Jambon made the announcement as a court in Lille heard arguments on whether part of the site near Calais should be flattened and up to 3,500 people forced to leave.

The Belgian government had told the EU it was temporarily suspending the Schengen agreement on free movement to deal with people leaving the camp - some 20 miles from the border - if it is dismantled, he said.

French state authorities last week gave those living in the southern part of the sprawling site near Calais until 8pm local time (7pm GMT) on Tuesday to quit their makeshift homes or face bulldozers being sent in.

Refugee organisations are pinning their hopes on a court hearing taking place in Lille this afternoon.

French judge Valerie Quéméner visited the Jungle this morning to see conditions before making a ruling on whether the eviction should go ahead.

Mr Jambon told reporters 290 police will be used to prevent migrants setting up similar camps in Belgium or trying to head to the seaport of Zeebrugge to board ships bound for Britain.

The Help Refugees charity said on Monday it carried out its own analysis showing there were 3,455 people living in the affected part of the Jungle who faced being "evicted from their homes in the midst of winter, without sufficient alternative accommodation on offer".

The decision of the court in Lille is not expected to be handed down until Wednesday, or even Thursday, following Tuesday's hearing.

French authorities have previously attempted to play down suggestions that the southern part of the Jungle would be cleared by force, with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve saying it would be a "progressive" evacuation.

At the weekend, actor Jude Law and singer Tom Odell were among famous faces who took to the stage at the camp in Calais to raise the plight of refugees.

They were joined by actress Juliet Stevenson and comedian Shappi Khorsandi at the Letters Live event.

It came after 145 celebrities including Idris Elba, Helena Bonham Carter and Benedict Cumberbatch wrote an open letter calling on Prime Minister David Cameron to help save children based there.

They want the Government to step in and allow unaccompanied children living in the camp to be reunited with their families in the UK.

French ambassador Sylvie Bermann said conditions in the camp were "absolutely terrible" as she defended the efforts to close it.

She told BBC2's Newsnight: "We decided to relocate people but nobody could complain about that because the conditions were absolutely terrible and some say even not very humanitarian.

"So we decided to provide them homes with security, with water and with heating so it will be better."

It was now "much harder" for migrants to reach Britain because of "fences and extra police" at Calais, she added.