Footage has emerged of migrants near Calais blocking roads and attacking heavy goods vehicles, causing lorries to swerve dangerously. One migrant was killed last night after being struck by a car near the French port.
Footage shot by local group Les Calaisiens en Colère (Calaisiens are Angry) shows debris scattered on the roads in a bid to hold up traffic long enough for the migrants to clamber aboard. Tree branches, wooden planks and shopping carts are pitched onto the roads at night and are often difficult to see from afar, posing a serious threat to unwary drivers.
A video filmed last night shows a lorry swerving wildly to avoid hitting other freight vehicles as they slow down for an apparent road blockage. Dozens of migrants quickly move in, taking advantage of the situation by moving from vehicle to vehicle in an attempt to break in or stow themselves within the body of the vehicle in the hopes of making it to the UK undetected.
A 24-year-old Pakistani migrant was killed last night on the Port bypass road after being hit by a light blue vehicle, which other migrants say was registered in Britain, Nord Littoral has reported. The man is said to have been living in The Jungle since last June in the hopes of reaching the UK.
In a separate incident, an Iraqi man was arrested by the French riot police after he stabbed a Syrian migrant on a road leading to The Jungle.
Last year the ‘Jungle’ migrant camp outside Calais swelled in size from just a few hundred migrants to the start of the year, to a 6,000 strong shanty-town replete with shops, restaurants, a nightclub and even a hotel.
Much of that was swept away by bulldozers in March after the local authorities gave the go-ahead for the camp to be demolished, while the French authorities have provided accommodation for 1,500 migrants in a purpose built camp nearby fitted out with beds, running water and electricity after they were criticised last year for allowing the migrants to live in squalor.
But although many of the migrants moved on, to Dunkirk further along the coast, to Paris and elsewhere, the region is still experiencing chaos as tenacious migrants determined to reach the UK continue to block the port road and target vehicles.