Police used tear gas as they dismantled a new migrant camp in the centre of Paris set up to house hundreds of refugees evacuated from makeshift suburban shelters without being relocated.

Volunteers had helped set up around 500 blue tents at the Place de la Republique in the heart of the French capital, which were quickly filled by migrants, the majority from Afghanistan.

Around an hour later police arrived to dismantle the camp, picking up tents, sometimes with people still inside, to the protests of migrants and jeers from volunteers.

Police later used tear gas to disperse the rest of the camp, driving the migrants out into the streets of central Paris.

The dismantling of the new camp comes one week after migrants were evacuated from makeshift shelters in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis without being relocated.