Channel migrants clampdown
MIGRANTS in Calais made about 1 700 attempts overnight to penetrate the Channel Tunnel premises in a bid to get to England, French police sources said yesterday, and an officer sustained facial injuries from a stone.
Of the 1 700 attempts, about 1 000 were “pushed back” by authorities and 700 intercepted within the 650-hectare Channel Tunnel site, police said.
The officer was hit in the face by a stone apparently thrown by a Sudanese migrant, who was arrested.
The 1 700 attempts represented a major increase from the last few nights when only a few hundred were registered.
The chaos at Calais spiked last week when more than 2 000 attempts were made to breach the Eurotunnel defences and one person was killed, a Sudanese man in his 30s who was apparently crushed by a lorry.
At least 10 people have died since June in the rush to sneak into England, seen by migrants as an “Eldorado”.
French police have bolstered their presence with 120 additional officers, which appears to be reducing the number of nightly attempts to storm the Eurotunnel premises.
The issue has become a crossChannel political hot potato, with British Prime Minister David Cameron coming under fire for comments in which he referred to “swarms” of people seeking to get into the country.
Earlier last week, the British government pledged million (R139.5-million) to improve fencing around the Eurotunnel rail terminal in Coquelles, outside Calais.
And Cameron promised “more fencing, more resources, more sniffer dog teams” to aid French police in their nightly cat-and-mouse game with the migrants. — AFP