Calais migrant crisis: Cameron warns Britain is 'no safe haven'

[Blackleaf]

Britain will not become a "safe haven" for migrants in Calais, David Cameron has warned, after hundreds continued their attempts to reach the UK.

The Prime Minister warned illegal immigrants would be removed from the UK, as migrants told the BBC they remained determined to reach Britain.

Mr Cameron was speaking after people gathered for a third night at fencing at the Channel Tunnel freight terminal.

More than 3,500 people have tried to get into the tunnel terminal this week.

Several hundred migrants were escorted away from the terminal by French police on Wednesday night - the third night of large-scale attempts to storm the terminal.

Of course, whilst Britain attempts to try and stop illegal immigrants from getting into the country the UN has been sticking its nose in, with a senior UN official calling it "a xenophobic response to the issue of free movement" (they are probably some left-winger who lives in a nice leafy suburb somewhere without a filthy immigrant in sight, except for the cheap Polish nanny they hire to look after little Tarquin and Araminta).

Calais migrant crisis: Cameron warns Britain is 'no safe haven'

BBC News
30 July 2015

Migrants wait near the A16 highway in Calais as they try to access the Channel Tunnel to Britain
​

Britain will not become a "safe haven" for migrants in Calais, David Cameron has warned, after hundreds continued their attempts to reach the UK.

The Prime Minister warned illegal immigrants would be removed from the UK, as migrants told the BBC they remained determined to reach Britain.

Mr Cameron was speaking after people gathered for a third night at fencing at the Channel Tunnel freight terminal.

More than 3,500 people have tried to get into the tunnel terminal this week.

Several hundred migrants were escorted away from the terminal by French police on Wednesday night - the third night of large-scale attempts to storm the terminal.

'Swarm of people'

The UK is stepping up security around its border at Calais to prevent migrants from crossing the Channel Tunnel
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The fresh attempts came despite the death of a man, believed to be a Sudanese national and aged between 25 and 30, who was crushed by a lorry on Tuesday.

Nine people have been killed attempting to cross the Channel in the past month.

Speaking in Vietnam during his tour of South East Asia, Mr Cameron said the French had sent an extra 120 police to Calais and the UK was investing in fencing and security.

"Everything that can be done will be done to make sure our borders are secure and make sure that British holidaymakers are able to go on their holidays," he told the BBC.

The Prime Minister said the situation was "very testing" because there was a "swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean, seeking a better life".

He warned illegal immigrants would be removed from the UK "so people know it's not a safe haven".

The Refugee Council attacked Mr Cameron's use of the word "swarm" as "irresponsible, dehumanising language".

Migrants have told the BBC they will continue to try to get through any holes in security fences, and that going in groups of up to 400 gave them the best chance of getting into the tunnel.

Raihan Jan, 24, a clerk from Afghanistan, said he had travelled through Iran, Turkey, Greece and Italy before reaching Calais four days ago.

Services through the Channel Tunnel have been delayed due to the migrant crisis

"We heard that one guy died and we know it's very dangerous, but there is not another way to go the UK," he said.

English literature graduate Mohammad Al-Mohammad, 26, said he had fled Syria's civil war, arriving in France three months ago.

"I have tried maybe nine or 10 times to get to the tunnel but I have failed," said Mr Al-Mohammad, from Aleppo. "I am seeking peace in the United Kingdom."

'Xenophobic response'

Eurotunnel said it had blocked 37,000 migrants trying to get to Britain since January, describing the problem as a "nightly assault" by thousands of migrants.

The rail shuttle has been delayed in recent days, but is now operating to schedule.

Operation Stack - where lorries park on Kent's M20 when Channel crossings are disrupted - is to continue into the weekend.

Parties from across the political divide have called on the government to push France to do more to resolve the situation.

Conservative MP David Davies echoed calls for the Army to be sent to Calais and urged the government to build camps in the countries migrants were from so they could be "sent back in a kind and humane fashion".

One senior UN official said demands for migrants to be kept out of the UK were "a xenophobic response to the issue of free movement".

Peter Sutherland said: "The debate in the UK is grossly excessive in terms of Calais. We are talking here about a number of people... who are in terrible conditions."

At the scene

Lucy Williamson, BBC correspondent

As night fell, the road towards the Channel Tunnel started to come alive. Groups of 10 or 12 migrants, moving steadily along the darkened highway, jackets pulled close, hoods up.

After a day of discussion in Paris and in London over how to secure the tunnel entrance, and fresh deployments of riot police, the determination of Calais' migrants seems unchanged.

People like Jamal - an Ethiopian who arrived here on Wednesday morning.

He told me he'd spent most of his adult life doing military service in the Ethiopian army, had spent 10 days drifting in the Mediterranean Sea, and had crossed six different European countries to get here.

Not once had his dream of reaching England wavered. For Jamal, a barbed wire fence, or a brush with police, might change his tactics, but probably not his goal.

Are you in Calais? Are you affected by the issues raised in this story? Please email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experiences.

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Calais migrant crisis: Cameron warns Britain is 'no safe haven' - BBC News

 

[Nuggler]

One senior UN official said demands for migrants to be kept out of the UK were "a xenophobic response to the issue of free movement".

Things must be gross when people are actually trying to get INTO the UK. Glad there's no "Chunnel" twixt UK and Kanukustan, eh.
Someone's probably hard at work trying to dig one, or six.

 

[Blackleaf]

Things must be gross when people are actually trying to get INTO the UK.

Not in the UK. That's why everyone wants to live here and why they would prefer Britain rather than France (or staying in the first safe country they reach, as UN law states). Britain is a land of opportunity for them.

They aren't going to choose France, a country with a sclerotic economy and an unemployment rate of around 11%. They're going to choose Britain, a country with a booming economy, an unemployment rate of 5.5% and a country which has created more jobs over the last five years than all the other 27 EU Member State combined (in fact, Yorkshire alone created more jobs in that period than the whole of France).

Britain is now the country where the poor and downtrodden of this world want to get to to better themselves; the land of opportunity.

The most powerful images from Calais that show how desperate people are to get into Britain

Ollie McAteer for Metro.co.uk
Thursday 30 Jul 2015
The Metro

The desperation of migrants has been documented by photographers (Picture: EPA)

It’s hard to imagine the desperation of thousands of migrants who are risking their lives to get into the UK.

There were around 4,000 breaches into the security zone surrounding the Channel Tunnel crossing on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Today hundreds are still trying to get to England, despite the recent death of a man who was crushed by a truck.

Eurotunnel said its security staff had helped stop 37,000 migrants trying to enter Britain this year alone, and that in the past month nine people have died trying to get across the Channel.

These striking pictures from Calais shows the sheer desperation of migrants.

MORE: One dead in Calais after 1,500 migrants tried to storm Channel Tunnel

MORE: Up to 100 Britons have been jailed for people smuggling in Calais



























Read more: Most striking images from Calais showing desperation of migrants as they storm Channel Tunnel | Metro News

 

[Nuggler]

The laddies in the last pic seem to be outnumbered (yellow vests). So far no guns. Not like they're trying for the US................yet.

 

[Walter]

The laddies in the last pic seem to be outnumbered (yellow vests). So far no guns. Not like they're trying for the US................yet.

BHO would welcome them with open arms.

 

[Ludlow]

precarious world we live in. Folks can either feel a sense of compassion and find ways to help or put up walls and try to protect their ways of life. Hard to know the right thing to do most of the time.

 

[Blackleaf]

French blame chaos in Calais on everyone but themselves including British businesses, Channel Tunnel operators and Libyan migrants

French ministers have shifted blame of Calais crisis on UK and Eurotunnel
Bernard Cazeneuve said it was not France's fault migrants were crossing
Home Secretary has chaired Cobra meeting as crisis in France escalates
Sudanese man died as 1,500 migrants stormed Channel Tunnel last night
Folkestone MP Damian Collins accuses French of 'lax' security at tunnel

By Matt Chorley, Political Editor for MailOnline and John Stevens In Singapore For The Daily Mail and Daniel Martin, Chief Political Correspondent For The Daily Mail
30 July 2015
Daily Mail

The French have shifted blame for the Calais chaos on to everyone else - lambasting British businesses, Eurotunnel and the Libyan migrant crisis.

Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister, said the operator of the Channel Tunnel was not doing enough on security, and said it was not his country’s fault that so many migrants were coming across the Mediterranean from North Africa.

And former French employment minister Xavier Bertrand said the situation was so acute because UK firms were too ready to employ illegal migrants.

Migrants speak with a truck driver as they walk alongside vehicles on the route leading to the Eurotunnel in Coquelles. It comes as French ministers today shifted blame for the crisis onto the UK and Tunnel operators

He said the British government should shoulder some of the blame because they have refused to introduce identity cards.

Critics accuse the French government of having abrogated its responsibilities over Calais, by not ensuring a strong enough security presence to deter refugees who are attempting to gain entry to Britain through the tunnel.

Former French employment minister Xavier Bertrand said the situation was so acute because UK firms were too ready to employ illegal migrants

Responding to growing pressure, Mr Cazeneuve said France would be reinforcing the means given to securing the border and the Eurotunnel site. He also confirmed that two mobile units, or 120 additional police staff, will be ‘temporarily deployed in Calais in order to contribute to the security of the site’.

But he said the crisis was not of his making – and instead accused Eurotunnel of not doing enough in light of the ‘worsening situation’.

‘In Calais, the state hasn’t stopped assuming its responsibilities of maintaining public order, dismantling immigration networks, keeping foreigners without papers away, and putting into place humanitarian solutions for migrants and asylum seekers,’ he told a press conference.

‘Eurotunnel needs to also assume its responsibilities, notably regarding security.’

A leaked letter from 23 July also emerged in which he reportedly said: ‘In my analysis, the Eurotunnel group, which has jurisdiction of the security, hasn’t made enough effort in light and proportion to the worsening situation.’

He asked the company: ‘I would like you to have a further look at the human resources you are planning on dedicating to securing the site’, saying he believed Eurotunnel has cut its security staff by two-thirds since 2002.

‘In the same timeframe, the state has multiplied its resources by five, and 350 members of the state security police force and police officers work together every day to prevent intrusions.’

Mr Cazeneuve also sought to blame the situation in Libya for the problems, because the failed state is becoming a route across the Mediterranean for thousands of north Africans and people from the Middle East.

He said: ‘This exceptional migrant situation has dramatic human consequences. Calais is a mirror of conflicts tearing up regions of the world.’

A man climbs onto a truck as dozens of lorries queue as they wait to cross the English Channel in Calais

Lorries queued as part of Operation Stack alongside both carriageways of the M20 in Ashford, Kent, today

Xavier Bertrand, a former French minister who is standing for the Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie area in regional elections, said Britain needed to ‘do more’ to resolve the situation.

‘The English need to understand that having their border situated in Calais causes an enormous problem,’ Mr Bertrand told BBC Radio 4’s World At One (the British border was extended to Calais in 2003).

He said it should be made more difficult for illegal migrants to work in the UK: ‘In England, you are able to work without papers easily. That’s why they want to come to England.

‘You don’t need an identity card to live in England, that’s why English employers use immigrants and why we’ve got this particular problem in Calais.’

Read more: French shifts blame of Calais crisis on UK, Eurotunnel and Libyan migrants | Daily Mail Online
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Why the French ARE to blame for migrant crisis: LEO MCKINSTRY says Prime Minister is wrong, we should point fingers directly at France as disaster unfolds on their soil

David Cameron said there was 'no point trying to point fingers of blame'
As they are on French soil, authorities there should deal with immigrants
By helping set up camp, French have created welcoming 'departure lounge'
French charities have also helped migrants with food, clothing and tents

By Leo Mckinstry For The Daily Mail
30 July 2015
Daily Mail

Asked about the chaos in Calais, David Cameron yesterday repeated his view that ‘there is no point in trying to point fingers of blame. It’s about working with the French...’

Sorry, Prime Minister, but we should point fingers — directly at the French. The responsibility for this increasingly dangerous situation lies with them. The disaster is unfolding on their soil and it is up to them to uphold law and order.

Here, LEO McKINSTRY explains why the French are at fault, and how they could take immediate steps to end the crisis...

David Cameron (pictured during news conference at the Government office in Hanoi yesterday) has repeated his view that 'there is no point in trying to point fingers of blame. It's about working with the French'

• Under the Dublin Convention, migrants are supposed to claim asylum in the first safe EU country they reach, and can be sent back there if they fail to do so. By definition, Britain will not be the first safe country for any of those who arrive from Calais. In any case, most of the migrants massing at Calais are not genuine refugees fleeing persecution to seek asylum, but are economic migrants after a better life in Britain. And since they are on French soil, the authorities there should deal with immigration applications and deport all those who fail to qualify. French border police have proved capable of tough action. In the town of Ventimiglia on the France-Italy border, officers refused migrants entry into their country, saying it is Italy’s responsibility to process claims.

• By helping to establish a camp on the edge of Calais — home to 5,000 — the French have created a welcoming ‘departures lounge’ for anyone wanting to slip illegally into England. It also offers somewhere for criminal gangs to gather: there is no doubt that attacks on the tunnel and its buildings have been organised at the camp. What’s more, French charities help the migrants with food, clothing and tents. Instead of offering these migrants succour as they plot their illegal passage to Dover, the French should be using bulldozers, water cannon and guard dogs to disperse them. They have done it before at Calais and, more recently, Paris. When they do act, they merely drop migrants a short distance away — groups quickly return.

But Leo McKinstry says the French are to blame for a number of reasons. He said since they are on French soil, the authorities there should deal with immigration applications and deport all those who fail to qualify

By helping to establish a camp on the edge of Calais (pictured) — home to 5,000 — the French have created a welcoming ‘departures lounge’ for anyone wanting to slip illegally into England

• Britain has promised an additional £7 million to France to improve fencing and security around the Channel Tunnel, but the French could do so much more themselves. They could have used better thermo-detection technology (to find stowaways), tighter checks on vehicles and stronger passport controls. The French have failed to properly police the routes to Calais to stop migrants reaching the port. One solution would be for them to let the British Army, with their experience of policing unrest in Northern Ireland, to operate at Calais. If that offended the French, they could summon their feared Compagnies Republicaines de Securite, the 13,000-strong national police force responsible for crowd control, which readily uses tear gas grenades.

• Cynically, the French pretend the Calais crisis is Britain’s problem, since these African and Middle Eastern migrants want to reach our shores. They argue all immigration controls should be shifted to Dover and Folkestone. But this is a shameful dereliction of duty under European national agreements. The reason the British/French border controls were set up in Calais in 2003 was precisely to deal with the huge build-up of illegal migrants at the notorious Sangatte camp, most of whom were posing as asylum seekers. Moving the border across the Channel to Kent would attract even more migrants to the area, worsening Calais’s problems.

Migrants clamber over a flimsy mesh fence at the edge of a railway in a bid to get closer to the entrance of the Channel Tunnel in Calais

A migrant helps another man through the small gap in the fence in the hope they will be able to cross over into Britain for asylum

• Calais Migrant Solidarity, a pressure group that wants an end to immigration controls, is typical of many that are exploiting world sympathy for ‘victims’. They want the thousands of migrants provided with bikes, tents, sleeping bags, mobile phone chargers and reading material, ‘especially in Pashto, Farsi, Tigrinya and Amharic’. Such nonsense shouldn’t be tolerated by the French authorities. The rights of law-abiding European citizens should count more than those of foreign interlopers.

• The migrant crisis has been fuelled by the French trade union Syndicat Maritime Nord, which represents ferry workers at Calais and is engaged in illegal strike action over potential job cuts. Led by the militant Eric Vercoutre, its members have set fire to motorways and paralysed harbours with blockades. The result is gridlock in France and Kent, exploited by migrant gangs. The French police should learn from Margaret Thatcher’s reaction to striking miners and deal firmly with Vercoutre and union thugs. But politicians appear to be siding with him. Daniel Percheron, a local socialist leader, has offered a £700 ‘bonus’ to anyone who helps blockade the Channel Tunnel.

Control: French gendarmes block migrants along a road to prevent them access to train tracks which lead to the Channel Tunnel in Frethun, near Calais

A group of migrants brazenly walk on the railway leading to Britain, bypassing an old carriage, as they make their final bid to get to the UK

• Natacha Bouchart, the Mayor of Calais, has behaved as a one-woman advertising campaign to entice migrants with talk about all the positives of a new life in Britain. She’s highlighted the generous benefits system, low unemployment and free National Health Service — saying Britain seems an ‘El Dorado’. She has pointed out that migrants can exploit the fact we don’t have ID cards, so they ‘can easily find work outside the formal economy, which is not really controlled’. Her deputy says the UK is unique in having a ‘black economy’. These Gallic buck-passers would do better to put their own house in order, recognising the Calais crisis is a disaster for the French economy. Tourism is France’s most successful industry, yet millions of British holiday-makers are being deterred from visiting.

• The Calais crisis is the ultimate symbol of the failure of the ‘EU project’. Open borders were meant to herald a new era of freedom and enterprise. Instead, they have brought only chaos and division. Yet France remains wedded to the disastrous ideology of federal unity and opposes reform of the EU’s failing institutions. Last week, President Francois Hollande said that ‘what threatens us is not too much Europe but the lack of it’. What’s needed is not doctrinaire nonsense, but a willingness of the French to take responsibility for the crisis.

Read more: Why the French ARE to blame for Calais migrant crisis, by LEO MCKINSTRY | Daily Mail Online
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[Blackleaf]

Sacre bleu! The English are sending migrants to France: RICHARD LITTLEJOHN imagines how the French media would react if human traffic was going the other way

By Richard Littlejohn for the Daily Mail
31 July 2015
Daily Mail

Thousands of migrants are massing on the south coast of England intent on reaching mainland Europe. It’s being called the biggest invasion since D-Day. Here is our chief foreign correspondent, Roger Rosbif.

Good morning, Pierre. I’m standing on the world-famous White Cliffs of Folkestone, where a giant makeshift transit camp has sprung up to accommodate migrants heading for Calais.

They have laid siege to the ferry terminal, and last night 3,000 illegal immigrants stormed the Port of Dover trying to stow away on lorries bound for France.

Sacre bleu! Thousands of migrants are massing on the south coast of England intent on reaching mainland Europe

Where have these people come from, Roger?

Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria, Eritrea, Pakistan, Tower Hamlets, Toddington Services. All over the world, in fact. And they are hell-bent on reaching Continental Europe.

How did they get to Dover?

Some of them have travelled thousands of miles in container ships, dhows, paddle steamers and rubber dinghies. Their original intention was to enter Europe by crossing the Mediterranean to Italy, but after the EU naval blockade shut down that route, they switched their gateway to the UK.

Where’s the Royal Navy in all this, Roger?

That’s a good question, Pierre. Frankly, the Royal Navy is a shadow of its former self. At the time of Agincourt, it boasted hundreds of ships, and for centuries Britain ruled the waves. Today, it has about half a dozen decrepit destroyers, four canoes, a few pedalos and two aircraft carriers without any aircraft. There are more admirals than ships these days.

Sacre bleu!

You can say that again, Pierre. Britain’s Armed Forces have been slashed to the bone and the Government no longer has the will to defend its borders. Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants have been free to come and go as they please.

French naval vessels are steaming across the Channel to mount a blockade of all ports on the English south coast from Dover (pictured) to Plymouth, reports our chief foreign correspondent Roger Rosbif


Then why aren’t they staying in Britain, Roger? I thought that under international law, migrants were supposed to claim asylum in the first safe country they reached.

That’s technically the case, Pierre, but no one has taken any notice of that rule for years. It seems to have been superseded by the European Human Rights Act, which means that anyone from anywhere in the world can move to the EU and immediately be granted citizenship or indefinite right to remain.

In theory, Roger, but here in France we have always ignored any rule which doesn’t suit us. For years, we’ve been deporting so-called asylum seekers or sending them on to England. What’s changed?

A couple of things, Pierre. First, the English have had enough, which is why four million of them voted for the anti-immigration party, Ukip, at the last election.

And second?

Savage cuts to welfare mean that Britain is no longer such an attractive destination, so all these migrants are now determined to settle in France. One man from Iraq told me that he had considered settling in London but it was already overcrowded. Too many foreigners for his liking. That’s why he wants to move to France, or Germany, or Italy.

But the British are supposed to be our European partners. This is happening on British soil. What are they doing about it?

Not much, Pierre. They blame France and the EU. Ever since Sangatte, the world has got the message that Europe welcomes illegal immigrants.

Yes, but we wanted them all to go to Britain, not swamp France.

That was then, Pierre. Times have changed. Frankly, the British just want to see the back of these people. As far as the British are concerned, the sooner these migrants make it to France, the better.

This is outrageous. There are humanitarian considerations, surely? We are talking about thousands of vulnerable men, women and children.

Very few women and children, Pierre, mostly fit young men. And not so vulnerable, either. Many of them carry knives and other weapons, and have the strength to tear down fences and break into the Eurostar terminal.

What are the British police doing?

They’ve put up some cones on the M20 and sent along 120 community support officers in hi-viz jackets. They have also introduced what they call a stacking system, which makes it easier for migrants to board lorries bound for mainland Europe.

Is that it? Only 120 policemen?

They’re not even proper policemen, Pierre. More like traffic wardens or shopping centre security guards. What you have to understand is that the British police don’t even bother investigating burglaries any more. They’re all too busy arresting journalists and ageing TV presenters. They’re terrified that if they tackle illegal immigrants, they’ll be accused of institutional racism.

Why don’t they send in the Army?

You must be joking, Pierre. For one thing, the Army’s in worse shape than the Navy. And for another, every time the British Government deploys troops anywhere in the world, millions of people take to the streets screaming ‘Not In My Name’ and start setting fire to Central London.

Is anyone in Britain doing anything to help?

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has offered to sell the Mayor of Calais a couple of surplus water cannon. And the owner of a curry house in Folkestone has opened a pop-up cafe at the White Cliffs transit camp to provide the migrants with culturally appropriate food.

'Offering to help': The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson

What’s the latest?

Well, the Port of Dover is now in the hands of the militant Unite trades union, which says it will not allow any vehicles from Europe into Britain until Jeremy Corbyn is elected leader of the Labour Party and all the migrants camped out here are safely in France.

Zut alors! The EU is supposed to be a free-trade and freedom-of-movement area.

That’s true, Pierre. But the British say they have decided to play by the same rules as France has for years. And the Interior Minister insists that freedom of movement works in both directions, especially when it comes to illegal immigration. Now, back to the studio.

Thank you, Roger. We’ve just heard that as thousands more migrants storm the rail and ferry terminals in Britain in a desperate attempt to cross to France, President Hollande will address the nation later this evening. Let’s go over to Fifi Madame in the newsroom for an update.

Merci, Pierre, you naughty boy. French naval vessels are steaming across the Channel to mount a blockade of all ports on the English south coast from Dover to Plymouth.

The President has ordered the immediate closure of the Eurotunnel and all French ports with direct services from England until further notice. Ten thousand troops armed with machine guns have been drafted in to support the CRS riot police.

Tanks have been positioned on all main roads leading from the ports. Police and soldiers have been given orders to round up any illegals and transport them to a detention centre near Le Touquet, where military planes will be waiting to deport them immediately.

Anyone attempting to escape will be shot on sight.

Meanwhile, in Strasbourg, talks aimed at renegotiating Britain’s membership of the EU have just ended. A French motion proposing that Britain should be expelled from the EU forthwith was carried unanimously.

Read more: The English are sending migrants to France says RICHARD LITTLEJOHN | Daily Mail Online
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