Keyword: Calais

UK and French associations report children are among victims who have suffered stabbings, broken bones, severe bruising and head trauma.

Some 1,000 migrants are to be displaced from a part of the the makeshift and insalubrious camp which the authorities will raze next week.

General Christian Piquemal, who was head of French Foreign legion in 1980s, says he was 'shocked' by police behaviour at banned protest.

Officers forced to break up demonstration by 150 protesters in Calais carrying signs such as 'This is our home' and waving the French flag.

At least six attacks on migrants at the makeshift camp in France are being investigated as volunteer legal teams say violence is 'endemic'.

Six migrants and two activists from No Borders group will stand trial Monday after they were arrested for storming a ferry in the Channel port.

About 50 migrants boarded the boat during incidents at a pro-migrant march by some 2,000 people before police evacuated them in early evening.

The container camp in Calais. © Reuters

Most of the estimated 6,000 migrants gathered in the French port of Calais in the hope of crossing the Channel to Britain live in dire conditions in a sprawling makeshift camp commonly called 'the Jungle'. As part of a longterm plan to raze the makeshift shacks and tents, the authorities have begun evacuating part of the site to build a camp with living quarters made out of containers that have no water or cooking facilities. Many migrants are refusing to move in to what resembles a prison, surrounded by fencing, watched over by video surveillance cameras, access to which is controlled by biometric readers. In this opinion article, singer and songwriter La Parisienne Libérée, who regularly commentates on current affairs for Mediapart in music and images, denounces a "shameful" project that has cost 20 million euros of public money.

Rob Lawrie was instead given a fine for placing a child in danger after trying leave Calais for the UK last october with a 4-year-old Afghan girl.

Rob Lawrie, 49, stands trial in Boulogne on Thursday for trying to smuggle young Afghan girl from miserable migrant camp to join her aunt in UK. 

The £1.1 million migrant centre will be built near existing shanty town at Grande-Synthe, just five miles from the ferry port at Dunkirk.

Police say number of migrants trying to enter tunnel near Calais was 'unprecedented' for daytime as most attempts take place when it is dark.

Relocated refugees sent to holding centres around the country are returning to the channel port, intent on entering Britain.

Vue aérienne de la « new jungle » de Calais. © Reuters

The northern French port of Calais was this week the scene of violent clashes between police and migrants who continue to gather in their thousands in the hope of crossing illegally into Britain. While a recent security clampdown at the port and Channel Tunnel entrance has succeeded in reducing incursions, migrants continue to arrive in Calais and the numbers living in the infamous makeshift ‘jungle’ camp have swollen significantly. As winter approaches, the authorities are attempting to disperse the migrants, some to holding centres, others into temporary accommodation, while actively inciting them to apply for asylum in France. Carine Fouteau reports.

Householders complained of intrusions by migrants who stole objects to block lorries, amid three nights of violent clashes with police.