The UK has “got a grip” on the migrant crisis in Calais, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has said, as he confirmed 100 more guards would be deployed in its Eurotunnel terminal.
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The migrants, who broke down several security fences late Saturday, were forced to retreat by riot police as they attempted to breach the final fence near the entrance of the 50-kilometer (30-mile) tunnel under the English Channel.
A spokesman for Eurotunnel, operator of the trains that link Britain and France through the tunnel, said there was “much less disruption” at its terminal near Calais since the reinforcements arrived to bolster a 300-strong existing police contingent.
However, there have been concerns that desperate people who have fled homes in war-torn countries could be hard for landlords to evict and fears over where the dispossessed illegal immigrants will go.
There are also fears for the impact on Sussex Police, with officers being drafted from the country to help with Operation Stack, which is helping manage the traffic problems on the M20 in Kent. Some migrants interviewed vowed to return as many times as it takes to get into a country they see as providing jobs, health care and other benefits.
Images of migrants trying illegally to cross the Channel Tunnel from France to Britain have fuelled calls from political opponents for ministers to do more and Mr Cameron has warned that the situation could last all summer.
But they added that the entire European Union must “address this problem at root”.
They said a long term solution was to persuade migrants that out streets are “not paved with gold”.
Britain and France said their efforts were not limited to beefing up security, and that they had led efforts to break up the criminal gangs who seek to profit from the flow of migrants. The Home Office said that the use of hotels was “only ever acceptable as a short-term contingency measure”.
We recognise the scale and complexity of the migrant crisis and the humanitarian issue involved.
RHA chief executive Richard Burnett said: “Without witnessing the mayhem at Calais first-hand, neither the Prime Minister nor his advisers can fully grasp the severity of the situation”.
Sweden was now accepting around 1,000-1,200 asylum applicants a week, Johansson said.
Prime Minister David Cameron drew widespread condemnation last week after he vowed that Britain will deport more illegal migrants “so people know it’s not a safe haven”.
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“I made the journey five weeks ago and I have been back to Calais today to assess the current situation and to establish for myself the problems facing our drivers”. A string of legal challenges over the past year eroded the system after complaints that many of those being put through it had suffered torture or had other justified cases for humanitarian protection.
