Published May 04, 2016
The Latest on Europe's response to the wave of migration from the Middle East and elsewhere (all times local):
11:00 a.m.
Protesters have scuffled with police trying to evacuate migrants camped out in an empty Paris high school.
Nearly 300 migrants from Sudan, Eritrea and a few from Syria had been living in the school in recent weeks, according to Paris police chief Michel Cadot. City authorities ordered it evacuated, and police arrived around dawn to clear them out.
Cadot told reporters that police used tear gas to clear protesters who had blocked the entrance to the Jean Jaures school in northeast Paris. Some masked protesters threw projectiles.
The demonstrators included members of a nationwide protest movement against labor reforms.
Cadot said the migrants were being relocated to shelters and encouraged to apply for asylum. French authorities have routinely cleared out migrants camping in public places in recent months.
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10:55 a.m.
European Union countries that refuse to accept refugees under proposals to overhaul the EU's failed asylum laws could face large fines for each asylum seeker rejected.
One document seen by The Associated Press shows that the fines — dubbed a "solidarity contribution" — could total 250,000 euros ($287,300) for each asylum seeker a country turns down. Officials said the total could still change ahead of the final decision expected later Wednesday.
The penalties are part of a European Commission plan to be made public Wednesday to more evenly share the burden of hosting hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict and violence in places like Syria, with the current asylum system on the verge of collapse.
The plan still has to be accepted by a large majority of member countries — around two-thirds under the bloc's qualified majority system — and EU lawmakers. The fine will prove controversial as some countries already vehemently oppose the current EU scheme to share 160,000 refugees in Greece and Italy. Hungary has even moved to hold a referendum on the issue.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/the-latest-paris-police-protesters-scuffle-over-migrants