Belgium: Border controls back as demolition looms for Jungle

BELGIUM reintroduced border controls yesterday to stop an influx of UK-bound refugees arriving when the illegal ‘Jungle’ camp in Calais is partially demolished.

Bulldozers are waiting for the green light from a judge to start destroying the notorious shanty town on the outskirts of the French port.

It is currently home to around 4,000 migrants who want to get to England, where they will claim asylum or else disappear into the black economy.

But as the Jungle is being destroyed, many are trying their luck in Belgian ports instead.

France and Belgium are both officially part of the European Union’s Schengen zone, which allows free movement between the two countries.

But EU members are permitted to suspend the arrangement in exceptional circumstances, and the Belgians feel threatened by the growing crisis in Calais, triggering a tightening of its border with France.

Jan Jambon, Belgium’s interior minister, said: ‘We have informed the European Commission that we will temporarily depart from Schengen rules.’

The news follows reports of violence in a camp in Belgium over a young Syrian girl not wearing a headscarf. In the brawl in Leopoldsburg on Friday, migrants attacked each other with rubbish bins, chairs and broomsticks, according to the Red Cross. Seven were injured and 11 arrested.

Yesterday the French authorities delayed their ruling for 48 hours on the demolition of a large part of the Jungle, just hours before the 7pm deadline.

Germany has set up its first refugee centre for gay asylum seekers. The hostel in Berlin, which opened yesterday, has room for 120 migrants fleeing war, terror and sexual harassment.