Humanitarian associations demonstrated in front of court houses in major cities around France to protest the rules that put pressure on those who assist illegal immigrants in any way.

PARIS: France launched a probe on Saturday and called for a European summit to combat illegal immigration, a day after 124 self-proclaimed Kurds landed in Corsica.

Immigration Minister Eric Besson underscored that the French Mediterranean island could not be allowed to become an entry point for illegal immigrants and mooted a European conference as an investigation began into who the traffickers were.

The migrants, who claimed they were Kurds from Syria, were dropped off near the southern town of Bonifacio on Friday by a boat which then departed, officials said. It was the biggest known mass-scale landing on the French island of migrants, who usually try to enter Europe by sea through Sicily, Malta, Greece and Spain’s Canary Islands.

The 57 men, 29 women — five of them pregnant — and 38 children were initially lodged in a gynasium in Bonifacio but on Saturday they were being flown to mainland France to be housed in detention centres in cities such as Marseille and Lyon.

Each “case will be individually assessed,” the immigration ministry said, adding that the migrants “will get an interpreter, a medical check-up, information on aid in case of voluntary return and legal help.”

Besson earlier said some of the migrants identified themselves as Kurds from Syria and others said they were from North Africa. Some of the immigrants resisted being shifted out from the gynasium but were forced into buses. Many had refused a meal late Friday in protest against plans to relocate them.

Several rights groups slammed the government response. The League of Human Rights (LDH) said their transfer to detention centres went against the tenets of the French Republic. “They are not ‘illegals’ living underground in France but refugees who after having arrived on French territory have the absolute right … to seek exile,” it said.

And Ava Basta (That’s Enough), a local organisation espousing racial equality, denounced their transfer, saying it would have preferred them to “benefit from hospitality and solidarity that Corsicans have displayed in the past.”