Paris, Sep 22 (DPA) French police moved Tuesday to raze a makeshift camp for illegal immigrants around the northern port city of Calais that once housed some 1,400 people from Afghanistan, Eritrea and other countries.

Tuesday's operation by hundreds of police officers was the final step in a months-long undertaking by the French government to destroy the camp - known as The Jungle - that has seen the number of asylum seekers there drop to about 250.

Most of the immigrants watched as the police began to destroy what had been their homes. Some of them held banners reading, 'We need shelter and protection' and 'We want peace'.

However, dozens of pro-immigrant activists tried to block police as they descended on the camp. They were quickly removed.

The operation was France's second attempt to resolve a chronic immigration conflict with Britain, which the migrants had been hoping to reach. The British coast lies about 35 km away.

In 2002, then interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy had closed a Red Cross camp near the opening of the Channel Tunnel, at Sangatte. According to Red Cross figures, the camp had seen 67,000 illegals pass through its doors in three years.