British anarchists ‘help migrants invade Channel Tunnel’

AROUND 200 violent migrants supported by British anarchists launched a ‘massive invasion’ of the Channel Tunnel yesterday in a desperate bid to get to the UK.

Fighting broke out ten miles inside the undersea link from the French side as a well-organised group clashed with police.

Detectives fear hard-Left agitators were among those leading the ‘co-ordinated attack’. An anarchist group called No Borders is said to have stepped up its presence in Calais this week.

There were also skirmishes in the supposedly secure zone at Coquelles, near Calais, where armed police spent most of the morning trying to restore order. Later yesterday, some 300 migrants could be seen throwing stones at lorries and then trying to clamber aboard them when they stopped.

It was soon after midnight that the largely Eritrean and Sudanese mob entered Eurotunnel’s terminal. They pulled down fencing and up to 120 got into the tunnel itself for a ‘distance of up to nine miles before being stopped by the gendarmes’, said Fabienne Buccio, prefect for the Pas de Calais. Eurotunnel services were suspended following the break-in and the company said in a statement: ‘It’s a massive invasion and intrusion by a very large and co-ordinated group of migrants.

‘It’s clearly an organised attack when it comes in such a large number – there are over 100 in this one group.

‘They arrived together and in a wellorganised manner broke through the fences and all clearly knew where they were going.

‘They ran through the terminal, knocking some staff to the ground and throwing stones at them. There are some minor injuries to staff and also two police officers. They were treated at the scene by paramedics.’

Police made 23 arrests in clashes that left six injured, after heading off the migrants at a junction inside the Tunnel.

Referring to the anarchists, an emergency services spokesman in Calais said: ‘They were very clearly helping to break down fences and guiding the migrants in a co-ordinated attack.

‘Fighting broke out with security guards, and we had to treat around ten migrants. Five ambulances were at the scene.’