Riot police are pelted with rocks
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THE Battle Of Calais is set to erupt today as the Jungle migrant camp is dismantled.
Refugees have already started fighting back against French police in ugly scenes.
Officers fired smoke grenades at protesting migrants, who retaliated by hurling rocks which caused police to quickly retreat.
Around 1,200 officers, including riot units, are being drafted in to remove the 10,000 inhabitants of the camp.
Up to 200 British protesters from the No Borders group have travelled to Calais to block the evictions.
Activists are preparing themselves to “fight police”, as one said, and are advising refugees to “think about your story” before claiming asylum.
Giles Debove, a police union spokesman, said his colleagues “will have to be very vigilant” when facing anarchists.
One British charity chief caused outrage by comparing French officials’ treatment of the refugees to that of Nazis towards the Jews in World War Two.
Cattle
Clare Moseley, founder of Care4Calais, said: “I would not want to trivialise what happened to the Jews because it was so awful, but there are parallels that can be drawn.
“The way the French people treat the refugees can sometimes feel very much like cattle, it can feel very dehumanising.”
The clearance of the camp is expected to last five days and buses will arrive today to take thousands of refugees to temporary reception centres.
There they will have to claim asylum in France within a set period of time, or face deportation.
It comes as another wave of 300 migrants, this time with no family links in the UK, arrived here. They include at least 50 girls.
Dover MP Charlie Elphicke said: “While the Home Office has been working hard this weekend bringing 50 young girls to safety, No Borders just wants to cause chaos. The Jungle is an affront to humanity. We are working to rid Calais of the camp and the evil people traffickers who lurk within it.
“If No Borders are guilty of any violence towards the authorities in Calais, it’s right that the French authorities should prosecute them.”
Home Affairs Select Committee chairwoman Yvette Cooper said: “With the closure of the Calais camp expected to start tomorrow, the urgent priority should be to ensure that all children are safe, before any demolition begins.
“This is not going to be an easy process – largely because both France and Britain have left this until the last minute when they should have been working together to protect children and teenagers many months ago.”