‘Send in troops to tackle Calais migrant rioters’
TROOPS should be helping to protect British drivers from escalating migrant violence in Calais, a transport chief said last night.
Armed people smugglers are thought to be responsible for some of the most serious disorder in recent years at the border in northern France.
A series of fights between mainly Afghan and Eritrean men desperate to reach the UK erupted on Thursday, leaving 22 in hospital – five with gunshot wounds.
Now there are fears a trucker or tourist could be killed unless the French army is drafted in to urgently restore order.
Richard Burnett, of the Road Haulage Association, said: “If traffickers are using guns, that changes the game completely and it’s time for the army to be deployed.
“Walls and fences don’t solve the problem and each day the risk of attack to hauliers increases. They must be protected.
“We don’t want to see tourists or truckers caught in the firing line.”
It is just a fortnight before half-term, when tens of thousands of British families will be using ferry and Eurotunnel terminals.
French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said: “This is a level of violence that hasn’t been seen before.”
And the disorder has sparked fears of a return to the chaos witnessed at the height of the migrant crisis in 2016, when 10,000 UK-bound refugees flooded into Calais and formed the notorious “Jungle” camp.
The violence comes weeks after France’s President Emmanuel Macron struck a deal with Prime Minister Theresa May under which British taxpayers will pay £44.5million more towards border security – on top of the £360million already spent since 2010 – while taking in more migrants.
Dover MP Charlie Elphicke described the situation as “shocking”, adding: “We cannot have a return to the Calais chaos. The French need to get these migrants out of Calais and arrest the ruthless people traffickers.”
The Home Office said last night: “The incidents in Calais are of concern and we will continue to monitor the situation closely. Our French partners have responded quickly and robustly to restore order.”
The number of recorded attempts to enter the UK, it added, has fallen from 80,000-plus in 2015 to just over 30,000 in 2017.
IT IS not so long ago that British families used to take a trip to Calais for a nice day out and some good French cuisine. No one in their right mind would dream of doing so now.
The latest news from what sometimes seems like a war zone is gun-related violence and fighting – and all between rival gangs of people traffickers. How on earth has the situation come to this?
If the French authorities do not get a grip an innocent party is going to be killed. Matters are bad enough as it is for British drivers and hauliers but the authorities have said that the violence has been escalating and has never been seen at this level before.
This is not a recent problem: it has been going on for years and the reason is that authorities in other European countries have been tacitly allowing these men (for they are all men) to make their way to the Channel.
The British Government needs to talk as a matter of urgency to the other countries involved, not just France, and make the point that the situation is now out of control.
When Eritreans or Afghans turn up in their country illegally they should be deported immediately, not sent on their way to the UK.
The situation is utterly shameful and increasingly dangerous and it is time this problem was dealt with once and for all.