Aid group Le Revers de la Medaille said the operation was part of a campaign to move migrants from the streets of the French capital in the lead up to the Olympic Games in July, and to ''make room for the beautiful Paris postcard''. It said the asylum seekers have nowhere else to go.
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00:00It was just before dawn when a team of police cleared this camp outside City Hall in Paris.
00:07About 100 male asylum seekers have been living there for several weeks.
00:12NGOs say the operation is part of a campaign to move migrants off the streets ahead of the Summer Olympics.
00:19The men and boys were asked to get on a bus to be driven to a transit centre outside the capital.
00:25Most of them will probably refuse to go to another city because if they go they will lose their appeal to court.
00:33So what they do is just take their stuff and just move away and settle in another place.
00:40So that's a problem that we've seen around Paris when the Olympics are coming
00:44because all the installations are beginning and they just have nowhere to go.
00:50Police have conducted similar springtime operations in previous years
00:54after allowing migrant camps to remain in the city during the winter months.
00:59City officials say the clearance was security and welfare related and not linked to the upcoming Games.
01:06As many as 15 million visitors are expected in Paris for the Olympics in July.