Over a hundred migrants in Calais took part in a series of violent attacks this week leading to several hospitalised from gunshot wounds as Belgian truck companies warn drivers to avoid motorways around the city.
On Thursday a series of violent conflicts involving around 100 Eritrean migrants and around thirty Afghan migrants erupted in various parts of the city. The brawl led to 22 of the young men being injured, including five who were victims of gunshot wounds. One was shot in the neck, L’Express reports.
Of the five men who were shot, four of them are intensive care in a local hospital. French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb commented on the violence saying, “we have reached an escalation of violence that has become unbearable for Calaisians and migrants.”
He added: “This is a level of violence never before known.”
The violence between the Eritreans and Afghans is said to have started at around 3:30 pm near a local hospital where migrants are given food by aid groups. The initial gunshots are said to have come from an Afghan migrant who shot four Eritreans who are between 16 and 18-years-old.
Another fight broke out a few miles away from the shooting that saw migrants armed with sticks attack another group. “A hundred African migrants armed with sticks wanted to attack about twenty Afghans,” a local prosecutor said.
A third conflict occurred in the early evening near the site of the former Calais Jungle migrant camp which was cleared in 2016. Afghan migrants showed up to receive food from aid groups and were attacked by a large group of Eritreans wielding iron bars.
The increased danger, along with migrants trying to sneak onto trucks to get to the UK, has led to several Belgian trucking firms advising their drivers to avoid motorway rest areas around the city.
Last year a van driver was killed on the A16 motorway after Eritrean migrants put tree trunks on the road and caused a fatal accident.