PARIS (AP) — Police are clearing out a makeshift migrant camp holding up to 1,500 people in northeast Paris that had become a focal point in France's immigration debate.

Authorities moved in early Wednesday to the so-called Millennaire tent camp on the city's edge alongside a canal used by joggers and cyclists. It is the largest of several around Paris. Two migrants drowned this month in canals along the encampments.

City authorities said the migrants, mainly from Africa, will be taken to gymnasiums in the Paris region.

The camps are at the heart of a political debate between French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo over how to handle migrants.

Police have cleared out some 28,000 migrants from Paris camps in the past three years, but the arrivals continue.