MIGRANT CAMP READY TO ERUPT
Fears as 9,100 refugees gather across Channel
THE lawless Jungle camp in Calais is now home to at least 9,100 migrants bound for Britain, it emerged last night.
In just two months numbers desperate to cross the Channel have doubled at the notorious shanty town – and the simmering tensions sparked a danger alert.
One source even described the situation as a “pressure cooker waiting to explode”.
A truckers’ leader warned that increasingly aggressive attempts to board lorries and even tourists’ cars are putting travellers at risk as the French port faces one of its busiest weekends.
A migrant was killed on Monday as rival camp
gangs clashed. Richard Burnett, of the Road Haulage Association, said: “Does an HGV driver – or even a family – have to die before action is taken?
“The number of migrants in Calais has now topped 9,000 with more arriving every day, all with the sole intent of reaching the UK by whatever means possible.
“Only the French military have the number of personnel that are desperately needed. We’ve been calling for action for over 12 months yet attacks on hauliers, and motorists are increasing.”
The population of the Jungle has risen despite the French repeatedly promising to reduce its size to 1,500 inhabitants.
Ukip leadership candidate Diane James said: “The Calais problem will not go away.
“France has to have the courage to arrest and deport. A hard line, yes, but the only way to send a clear message.”
A census put the Jungle population at 4,480 in June but aid workers now estimate it is home to at least 9,100, with hundreds more arriving each week.
Smuggle
The migrant killed on Monday night was a 37-year-old Ethiopian. He died and 15 others were seriously injured in a battle involving gangs from Sudan and Afghanistan.
They were fighting over access to the motorway, from where migrants smuggle themselves into the UK on vehicles.
A source close to the murder probe said: “As two gangs from Sudan and Afghanistan competed to get on the motorway to stop the lorries a fight broke out.
“Weapons including knives and sharpened sticks were used and it was a hugely violent fight.”
The bloodshed follows a familiar pattern as the migrant crisis turns increasingly ugly. Scores of British vehicles heading to Calais have been pelted with missiles.
The bank holiday this weekend will see a huge increase in the amount of traffic heading to the ferry terminal.
Charity L’Auberge des Migrants carried out the latest head count. Its officials called the camp a “pressure cooker waiting to explode”.
Ukip migration spokesman Steven Woolfe said: “A long-term solution cannot be found if the number of migrants travelling to Calais continues to increase.
“As the UK begins its journey of leaving the EU it is critical the Government continues to invest in additional security measures and strong borders to reduce illegal migration.”
The Daily Express has led the way in exposing how the migrant crisis on our doorstep has rapidly deteriorated. Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill said: “Britain and France have invested tens of millions of pounds each to bolster security at Calais.
“The port’s new joint command and control centre ensures French police officers, security guards and Border Force officers robustly tackle those attempting to reach the UK illegally.”
THE number of migrants living in the Jungle camp in Calais is now at its highest level, having doubled over the summer. And yesterday Germany agreed to take in hundreds of migrants blocked in Italy. How long until they join their compatriots on the French coast?
With the migrant population booming the French authorities need to act before the camp and surrounding area descend any further into anarchy. Every summer using the port is a hellish prospect for holidaymakers. All year round lorry drivers are under attack from marauding gangs.
Meanwhile the people traffickers continue to operate. With only a token effort made to arrest and imprison them they are free to devise new ways of dodging our lax border controls. Of most pressing concern to our politicians should be the revelations from French police that the camp is packed with jihadists trying to bring terror to the streets of Britain.
Still the authorities persevere with old approaches which have failed. Tougher security on the approach to the port has pushed the problem to Dunkirk and other transit points. Clearing the camp causes riots and it inevitably grows back larger than before. All attempts to get migrants to begin formal asylum proceedings have been resisted because they know doing so would kill their dream of coming to Britain.
The French authorities must do something worthwhile for a change and commit to doing whatever it takes to arrest and deport those in Calais who have no right to be there.