French police clear the 'jungle' migrant camp in Calais

Resembling post-apocalyptic scenes, video footage has emerged showing tents burning through the night after violent protests at The Jungle migrant camp.

As fires raged, refugees shouted 'f*** you' and let off fireworks towards police while fighting eviction from the Calais squat.

Tear gas and baton charges were used by officers as they tried to restore order.

Around 300 migrants refuse to be moved from the camp to a purpose-built shelter because it would

force them to be fingerprinted in France and therefore prevent them applying for asylum in Britain.

The footage was posted on Facebook on Wednesday by the French group Calais Libre with the comment: 'Here are the expelled migrants in action last night, and you can hear the pretty words that they use (f***, f***, f*** you)'.

Meanwhile, a lorry driver was reportedly hospitalised after being robbed by a gang of migrants at knifepoint and sprayed with tear gas.

The Lithuanian trucker was allegedly attacked by three refugees at a garage in the French port.

The attackers made off his wallet and mobile phone, it was reported by The Daily Express which cited local media.

Police are studying CCTV as part of their investigation.

Tensions have erupted all week after the Pas de Calais prefecture handed the migrants an ultimatum to get out of a stretch of the Jungle before it was demolished.

Bulldozers moved in this week to clear sections of the camp, which currently contains more than 5,000 people who want to start a new life in Britain.

Hundreds of migrants yesterday also clashed with French riot police while trying to jump on trucks bound for Britain.  

Officers again used tear gas to break up around 300 refugees gathering near the Eurotunnel entrance.

The migrants had a deadline of yesterday afternoon to move. If they did not, they will be forcibly evicted, according to the terms of the official order.

The prefecture has proposed giving those displaced priority in new containers opened a week ago to shelter up to 1,500 migrants, but thousands more will have nowhere to go.

Many of the migrants view the makeshift containers – which contain electricity plugs and heating – as prisons and want to stay in their tents and bivouacs.

Some migrants have began blocking the port road or throwing stones to slow down UK-bound traffic so they can jump aboard.

Police fear there will be more trouble as the attempts to evict the migrants intensify.

It came as British MPs and HGV drivers warned that EU plans to force Britain to accept 90,000 refugees in the next year as part a quota will make Calais 'even more of a magnet' to migrants.

There has been widespread fury at the plans from Brussels but a failure to agree a quota could see the UK denied the right to deport asylum seekers to their country of arrival.

Number 10 last night vowed to fight the proposal, which is a major blow to David Cameron's EU referendum ambitions.

The European Commission wants a new quota system under which member states share out the estimated 1.3million people expected to arrive in Europe this year.

Britain, which would be expected to take around 90,000, has been warned that – if it refuses – it will lose its right to send home migrants who should have made their claims elsewhere.

MPs and hauliers warned this would make Calais even more of a magnet for asylum seekers. Richard Burnett of the Road Haulage Association said: 'The floodgates would open.

'The migrants that are already there don't want to be in France, they want to get to the UK, and this would just make the problem far far worse.'

Tory backbencher Peter Bone said: 'This is absolutely absurd. It is typical of the European Union to want to change the rules to penalise Britain.'
Source :AFP