Britain is to start building a wall in the northern French port of Calais to stop migrants jumping on trucks, under a deal agreed earlier this year, the interior ministry said Wednesday.
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British Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill told the Commons Home Affairs Committee on Tuesday the wall project will begin soon. “We are determined to stay on the (freeway) for the time we need”, he said.
The wall will be built along both sides of a 1-kilometer (0.6 mile) stretch of road approaching the Calais ferry port, according to the UK Home Office.
But industry bodies have said the wall is a “waste of money” and will simply push the problem further down the road.
The 4m concrete wall will replace fencing that has failed to stop stowaways targeting lorries.
Britain is paying for the construction of a wall in Calais, near the so-called Jungle migrant camp, in an attempt to stop refugees and migrants from boarding lorries heading for the United Kingdom, the country’s immigration minister has confirmed.
The protestors blocked the A16 highway, a route used by freight and passengers crossing to Britain via the Eurotunnel and Calais port. Organizers said the protest could last several days.
Calais has been marred by riots and violence over the past year as migrants spill out of the Jungle hoping to cross the Channel and enter Britain. Aid groups warned that the wall will not deter people from attempting to enter the United Kingdom – it will likely force them to take more unsafe routes, making a bad problem worse.
A British truckers’ group said the wall is a poor use of money.
The so-called Operation Snail is blocking the main roads into Calais on Monday with a convoy of slow-moving cargo trucks and tractors congregating in the centre of the port city.
The planned wall is part of a joint £17m deal between France and the UK.
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Authorities have poured in police – about 2,000 – to guard roadways, and built high barbed-wire fences to protect the Eurotunnel freight trains, the port and highway, but desperate migrants are using increasingly unsafe tactics to slow trucks and hitch a ride. News reports on the camps have shown the tactics migrants and refugees use to smuggle into the U.K. The drivers demanded the closure of the camp in order to ensure their safety.
