Migrants from the “Jungle” often create their own road blocks to slow trucks heading for Britain, seen as an El Dorado.
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Community organising charity Citizens UK has claimed there are around 7,000 refugees now living at the infamous makeshift camp on France’s northern coast.
Truckers complain that in recent weeks, migrants and people smugglers have staged unsafe barricades and other diversions on major thoroughfares, in order to climb aboard British-bound vehicles before they enter the Channel Tunnel.
Despite these children having the legal right to be in the United Kingdom, a recent survey of the camp shows they are risking their lives on average 2,110 times a week, stowing away in the back of lorries and jumping on trains, in a bid to reach their loved ones.
He said the government was determined to take down the camp, which is estimated to now have about 9,000 people. The French authorities have destroyed part of the Calais camp already and recently closed down local shops and restaurants, making things increasingly hard for residents.
Disgruntled Calais residents want the authorities to set a date for the entire camp to be cleared. “A policy-driven, long-term solution is overdue”.
Organisers say they will ring the port with a human chain and say their action could be indefinite. “Our aim should be for no child to be spending another winter in the Calais “jungle” or in unsafe refugee camps elsewhere in Europe”.
No traffic was being allowed to pass the blockade and police were stationed at the junctions, apparently to stop vehicles joining the motorway.
For this study, researchers also visited smaller camps, outside of Calais and Dunkirk, for the first time and reported conditions are also bad there.
The chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, Richard Burnett said around 200 French farmers would join lorries and tractors at Dunkirk – north of Calais – and Boulougne to the south at 7.30am local time (6.30am BST).
The local farmers and traders claim that the camp is damaging to the area.
Labour peer Lord Dubs has a history of campaigning for the rights of refugees.
“Many more resources – including a coordinated government drive – are required to ensure the family reunion process works”.
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FTA is warning that traffic will be brought to a standstill, and motorists stranded on the road could face attacks from migrants attempting to board their vehicles to get to the UK. “Numerous children in Calais are likely to have been orphaned – but they may have extended family (grandparents, aunts and uncles, or adult brothers and sisters in the UK) who can care for them”.
