France deploys riot police to stem flow of migrants from Calais

France deployed 120 riot police to Calais on Wednesday to bolster security after thousands of migrants tried to enter Britain through the Channel Tunnel in recent days, with the resulting chaos leading to at least one death.

"This exceptional migrant situation has dramatic human consequences," French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Wednesday. "Calais is a mirror of conflicts tearing up regions of the world."

Many of the migrants crossing through France and Britain are fleeing unrest and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The precise number that have attempted the crossing since Monday remains unknown, but most estimates put the figure at more than 3,000.

British daily The Times reported Wednesday that up to 3,000 were involved in a closely coordinated plan to cross the English Channel into Britain on Monday night alone, far more than the 2,100 migrants police said had been removed from Eurotunnel premises that night

The paper said that more than 2,000 migrants stormed the terminal in a first wave. While police were busy escorting them off the premises, another 800 took advantage of the security vacuum in a bid to stow themselves away on trains and lorries bound for Britain.

“It was pandemonium,” the newspaper quoted a French police source as saying. “They were pouring through holes in the fences and clinging on to the Eurotunnel trains.”

But The Times’ figures were met with some suspicion by Bruno Noël, spokesman of the Alliance police union, which represents officers in the Calais region.

“These numbers may be skewed by the fact that even according to the official number of migrants escorted from Eurotunnel premises – which is 2,100 for [Monday] night – it doesn’t necessarily represent that many people,” he told FRANCE 24.

“What happens is that they are rounded up by the police, taken back to the camps and they promptly try again,” he said, adding that while few of the migrants are arrested or processed by the “10 to 12 officers working there overnight”, it is impossible to know the exact figures.

Police ‘fed up’

According to The Times, a record 148 migrants made it through the tunnel on Monday night, only to be detained on the English side. All of them immediately claimed asylum in the UK.

British Home Secretary Theresa May on Wednesday admitted that "more than 100" made it across overnight Monday. A Home Office spokesman on Wednesday refused to give FRANCE 24 a precise figure.

Overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday another 1,200 people stormed Eurotunnel’s premises once again hoping to stow away on a waiting lorry or hide on the trains that take vehicles through the tunnel.

One man was crushed to death by a truck in the chaos, while hours later another man, also believed to be a migrant, was electrocuted as he tried to jump onto a Eurostar train. He remains in a serious condition in a Paris hospital.

“The UK, France, the European Union and Eurotunnel need to find a coordinated approach and take some responsibility for this terrible mess,” according to Noël, who said local police officers were “fed up to the back teeth” and want law enforcement to take firmer steps.

“Breaking and entering on private premises is a crime, and none of these people are ever bought up in front of a court,” he said. “This can only realistically happen if we get serious reinforcements on a permanent basis,” he added. “A few dozen officers, in a specialised unit, working nights and backed up by a will to prosecute migrants who commit these crimes would be a big step in the right direction.”

Squalid migrant camps

An estimated 5,000 people, mostly from Africa and the Middle East, currently live in squalid makeshift camps on the outskirts of the northern French city.

All are hoping to make a new life in the UK, attracted by a relatively healthy economy and the prospect of getting jobs, or being reunited with family members already living there.

Migrants apprehended on the British side of the Channel Tunnel initially go through identity checks at a facility near the tunnel exit in Folkestone where they are allowed to make asylum claims. Whether or not they have requested asylum, they are then transferred to an immigrant centre in nearby Dover, a former coastal fortress which is run by the British prison service. Many will remain there for months while they wait for their claims to be processed.

The Eurotunnel operator said in a statement on Wednesday that it had blocked 37,000 attempts at trying to make the journey since the start of the year.

Paris-London tension

The encampments on the Calais side of the tunnel have soured relations between Britain and France, which blame each other for failing to cope with the crisis.

The mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, has threatened to shut down the port if Britain does not do more to tackle the crisis. A report by the French interior ministry released earlier this month criticised a lack of cooperation between the UK and France on sharing information and resources.

A Eurotunnel spokesman said on Tuesday: "This is an issue that is a really for the government to sort out. We need them to stop the migrant flow from Calais but it appears to be too much for them to handle."

Last week Eurotunnel said it would demand nearly €10 million from the French and British governments to help cover the extra security costs involved in combatting the flow of migrants.

Interior Minister Cazeneuve and British Home Secretary Theresa May held a UK-France summit Tuesday in London to discuss the ongoing crisis.

"The French and UK governments are working in close collaboration on this issue which affects us both," said May following the talks with Cazeneuve.

The UK minister said that intelligence and law enforcement specialists will be posted to combat the "terrible" gangs of people smugglers "making a profit out of human misery".

France and Britain also vowed to work together to return migrants, mainly to West Africa, "to ensure that people see that making this journey does not lead to them coming to Europe and being able to settle", May added.

The Conservative government minister also announced an extra £7 million (€10.8 million) for security at Coquelles, the French suburb which is home to the Eurotunnel terminal, which is in addition to the £15 million already pledged.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Date created : 2015-07-29