Lorry drivers along the A16 motorway in the French port city of Calais were inundated by a near-continuous stream of migrants trying to board their vehicles to sneak into the UK.
The French CRS, the country’s riot police, were also deployed to the area which lies by the off-ramp to the channel tunnel which connects France to the UK mainland.
According to a report from newspaper Nord Littoral, the CRS officers were “overwhelmed” by the number of migrants trying to sneak aboard the lorries, saying there were too few officers deployed and that several Gendarmes were also deployed in support of the officers.
The newspaper also noted that last month on November 19th, an illegal migrant was killed in the area after being hit by a car on the A16 while crossing the motorway and noted that if the situation does not change, more accidents will be likely in the future.
Last week, 57-year-old lorry driver Andy Couper was attacked by migrants after he attempted to film them breaking into another vehicle.
“I could sense someone trying to get into the lorry. I looked down and within seconds there were 15 of them laughing at me. The next minute I hear someone hit the truck and the second after that, the whole passenger window caves in,” Couper said and added the migrants were “running riot around Calais.”
In 2020, despite the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, the UK has seen a surge of migrants attempting to enter the country from France, either by lorry or by boat across the English channel.
Despite the UK government paying an estimated £28 million to the French government, the two countries remained without an agreement to send back illegal boats arriving in the UK earlier this month.
The mayor of Calais Natacha Bouchart, meanwhile, blamed the UK for the migration crisis in August, saying, “If the migrants want to cross [the Channel], it is because the British themselves put out the call. They have done so by failing to touch their legislation for 20 years.”
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