Their faces covered, a gang of Ethiopian youths marches towards a rival camp in Calais brandishing sticks and rocks.
As they come into sight, a group of Eritreans arm themselves and rush out to defend their territory.
But
French riot police are on the scene within minutes. After firing tear
gas from behind their shields they manage to drive the groups apart.
Yesterday’s clash was over almost as soon as it started – but it will happen again today. And tomorrow.
Anger: Police step in when immigrants
in Calais cause a disturbance, using canisters of tear gas on the camps
while the immigrants retaliate with thrown stones and sticks over the
fence
A gang of
Ethiopian youths marched towards a rival camp in Calais brandishing
sticks and rocks. As they came into sight, a group of Eritreans arm
themselves and rush out to defend their territory
Pat down: A police officer searches an immigrant before he takes him back into the camp
In
the dune area of Calais, a small piece of land near the Channel Tunnel
which is home to up to 2,000 migrants, violent clashes between rival
ethnic groups have become an everyday occurrence.
Eritreans
and Ethiopians fighting over various routes into the ferry port
appeared to be the principal reason for the fights, a police spokesman
said.
It
is thought that rows with people-smugglers who charge up to £1,000 cash
for passage to Britain have also contributed to the trouble.
Yesterday,
one Ethiopian man, who asked not to be named, said that Eritrean people
smugglers were charging money for access to coveted areas for sneaking
aboard lorries.
Eritreans and Ethiopians fighting over
various routes into the ferry port appeared to be the principal reason
for the fights, a police spokesman said
It is thought that rows with
people-smugglers who charge up to £1,000 cash for passage to Britain
have also contributed to the trouble
After winning control of the
situation, riot police went through the motions and frisked the young
men, who are mostly in their 20s, recovering various knives, sticks and
rocks
‘They
are trying to charge us 500 euro (£395) to get on a lorry and they will
not let us wait in the good areas where the lorries are parked,’ he
said. ‘It is not fair that one group of people get access and another
don’t. They cannot keep it to themselves.’
After
winning control of the situation, riot police went through the motions
and frisked the young men, who are mostly in their 20s, recovering
various knives, sticks and rocks.
The
situation is becoming unbearable for local police who say that they are
stretched to breaking point by the constant fights. They have demanded
live ammunition rather than rubber bullets to defend themselves against
the migrant gangs who they claim are becoming increasingly ‘violent’.
Last summer, violent clashes between Eritrean and Sudanese migrants led to more than 70 people being injured
Officers confirmed it was not normal
practice to round up migrants. Few have any papers and trying to process
them over and over again becomes pointless
Yesterday’s
clash involved at least 200 young men. ‘We struggled for six hours to
stop them fighting last night [Monday] and today there are more
disturbances,’ said police union spokesman Gilles Debove. He said that
ten injured youths were taken to hospital.
Last summer, violent clashes between Eritrean and Sudanese migrants led to more than 70 people being injured.
Gangs
of young men fought running battles with police who fired tear gas and
brandished shields and batons in an attempt to disperse them. The
disagreement was again over access to prized areas where it is easier to
board lorries.
Riot: Yesterday’s clash involved at least 200 young men and took six hours to get under control
There
was just one arrest yesterday. Officers confirmed it was not normal
practice to round up migrants. Few have any papers and trying to process
them over and over again becomes pointless.
The
migrants will also conceal their identities because any asylum
applications they make in Britain will be harmed because they did not
attempt to claim asylum in France.
Just
hours after the clash a 16-year-old Ethiopian girl was knocked over and
killed on a busy Calais road yesterday as she tried to board a lorry to
Britain.
Her
death is the third in as many weeks and highlights the increasingly
desperate plight of migrants who are willing risk their lives to cross
the Channel.
The
girl, named in camps as ‘Saba’, had made the perilous journey from
Africa without her family and is believed to have been in Calais for
several weeks.
The
car that killed her was heading for Calais from Dunkirk and swerved to
avoid a group of migrants ‘in what appeared to be a tragic accident’,
said a police spokesman. No charges are likely.
Saba suffered internal injuries and died within a few hours of arriving in hospital.
A
police spokesman said: ‘Incidents of migrants running along major roads
are very common. The migrants put themselves in huge danger all the
time.’
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