THE ‘SWARM’ ON OUR STREETS
As police seize stowaway migrants across South, Cameron is attacked for ‘likening them to insects’
THE Calais crisis intensified last night after a day of astonishing scenes on both sides of the Channel triggered by the chaos at the French port.
In France, police fought running battles with migrants trying to storm into the Eurotunnel terminal. At one point, a mother and her young son clutching a teddy bear were seen crawling through a security fence.
It came as David Cameron was attacked by Labour for saying the UK was not a ‘safe haven’ for a ‘swarm’ of illegal immigrants.
In England, police rounded up sus- pected migrants on the M20 after they made it to the other side of the Tunnel. One even risked his life by stowing away under a horsebox for two hours.
Last night, 200 migrants tried to storm the Tunnel. Shortly after a shuttle train from the UK pulled in, they rushed at the point where cars leaving the Tunnel join the main road. British holidaymakers had to swerve to avoid the crowd of migrants in the road, but a handful made it through before riot police formed a cordon. On another day of drama:
Eurotunnel dramatically scaled back its overnight freight service to reduce the opportunities for stowaways – a move which will have major implications for the UK economy, which is already losing £250million a day because of the chaos;
The UN’s special representative on migration made the absurd claim that
Britain’s ‘exaggerated’ concerns about the bedlam were ‘xenophobic’; ÷ Police in the UK warned that they could not cope with the number of illegal immigrants fleeing lorries at motorway service stations; ÷ Lorry drivers on the M20 were warned that it will take 18 hours to get to the Tunnel as nearly 6,000 joined the queue last night; ÷ Social services said it was struggling to cope with a surge in the number of children claiming asylum. The two sides of the shambles were neatly summed up in one picture yesterday. On one side of the M20 motorway, lorries bound for Europe queue for as far as the eye can see. On the other, 12 suspected illegal immigrants are detained by police after making it to Britain.
The image underlined what a disgraceful farce Calais has become since a perfect storm of striking French workers and migrant activity created mayhem in the port. It was also proof that migrants are still getting to the UK, despite crunch talks with the French government and beefed-up security at the border.
Last night, Calais was braced for a fourth night of mayhem after migrants began to mass outside fencing at the Channel Tunnel freight terminal.
There have been about ,000 attempts by migrants to enter the Tunnel in the past three days and one was killed after hundreds stormed the barriers on Tuesday night.
It was reported last night the Armed Forces were preparing to get involved in the crisis. The Daily Telegraph said military planners were considering moving miles of stationary lorries from the M20 and park them at Ministry of Defence sites, to get traffic in Kent flowing again.
The Ministry of Defence has been asked by the Home Office and Department for Transport to identify military-owned land around Folkestone that is free and capable of accommodating hundreds of lorries.
French police said they arrested 300 migrants trying to enter the Calais terminal, but admit-
ted they were overwhelmed and their attempts to deal with the migrants were often futile. A spokesman said: ‘It’s unmanageable.’
Eurotunnel revealed that since the beginning of the year, it has blocked 37,000 migrants trying to make their way to Britain. But images yesterday proved that migrants are successful.
At least 1 0 have crossed the Channel this week by breaching security fences and stowing away on Folkestone-bound trains.
The 12 suspected illegal immigrants arrested before police could hold them. In West Sussex on Tuesday, a 26-year-old Sudanese stowaway was found under a horsebox at a prestigious horse show trials whose patron is the Queen. The man, who risked his life clinging on to an axle for the two-hour journey, was arrested as horses arrived for the Longines Royal International Horse Show at Hickstead.
And the head of Kent County Council warned that social services were struggling to cope with an increase in the number of young immigrants claiming asylum. Paul Carter said the number in the authority’s care – after arriving alone at Dover – had almost doubled to 60 in the past three months, leaving it with a multi-million-pound funding gap.
MPs and hauliers have called for the Army to be brought in to restore order, while Ukip leader Nigel Farage said there was a ‘very real possibility’ that the Channel Tunnel could temporarily close if the French authorities failed to act further.