More than 700 people, including families and young children, have been evicted from a temporary migrant camp in France.

The removals in Dunkirk on Tuesday morning follow a court ruling that the encampment in a gymnasium and the surrounding field was a health and security hazard.

The gymnasium opened to migrant families seeking shelter in December 2018. The encampment had grown rapidly in recent months and many people pitched tents in an adjacent field when the gym became full.

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Riot police arrived at 7am and placed a cordon around the camp to prevent people leaving. As more police vans arrived, people began to get out of their tents and pack their belongings. While most were aware of the evictions, some were surprised to be suddenly surrounded by the local police, internal security forces and gendarmerie.

The eviction is the largest in more than a year. The camp’s imminent closure is thought to have led to an increase in the number of migrants crossing the Channel by boat. Charities say the other, much smaller, clear-outs in Dunkirk and Calais have made life unbearable for migrants.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A man emerges from his tent hours before the camp is cleared. Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

Single men and families were taken in separate coaches. Police searched some men, asking them to lift their shirts, and confiscated razors and lighters from their bags. The operation was watched by officials from the UK Home Office, which has been approached for comment.

Araf Mohamed, 23, had been staying at the encampment for five days after leaving Syria “to find peace and security”. He said: “I have health problems. I was hit by a bomb explosion in Syria and lost hand,” before lifting up his shirt and pointing to scars on his stomach. “There are pieces of the bomb that I want to get removed in the UK.”

He said the conditions in the camp were terrible: “Last night we didn’t have a tent to sleep in and we went around asking people for one.”

Mohamed said although he had not been to the UK he was keen to live there. “I know the UK is a beautiful country and it’s safe. They give people their rights.”

As he boarded a coach he said he did not know where he was being taken to. “We are hoping that they don’t take us to jail.” He later texted that his bus was being driven to Brest.

Abdullah Saman, 44, who travelled from Kirkuk in Iraq, was sleeping in a tent with his wife and three sons, aged four to 13. He said he would refuse to apply for asylum in France. When asked why, he pointed to a rat scuttling past his tent.

“You know why. You know better than me, you see this situation,” he said. “It’s difficult to live here. There’s no work here, the language is difficult and there’s no guarantee of life.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest People were ordered to pack their belongings before being escorted on to coaches. Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

Martina Villa, a communications executive at Doctors of the World, represented one of a handful of NGOs who saw the evictions. “It’s early to say now, but the beginning of the eviction seemed was very organised and structured,” she said.

“These evictions are a show of institutional violence, displacing people and forcing them to leave the only areas where they might have felt some safety, even if it was just tents. We are concerned about people not knowing where they are being taken and not having been able to access people we know have medical issues.”

Sarah Berry, 47, who volunteers for Care4Calais, said: “There are a lot of refugees very concerned they are not going to be taken to a reception centre but a deportation centre. We don’t know where they are being taken to. We’ve been kept in the dark.”

She said the evictions would not deter people from attempting to cross the Channel illegally to enter the UK. “The refugees’ situation at home hasn’t changed and the UK is still the end goal.”

Clare Maillot, who has worked with the local migrant charity Salam, said: “The refugees are quite happy and tranquil because this has happened time and time again. They get driven to the centres, but they always come back.”