Police clash with migrants in Calais for second time in fortnight

Police in the French Channel port of Calais fired tear gas at migrants trying to force their way into the city's port to reach Britain on Wednesday for the second time in two weeks.

Migrants from Africa demonstrate in front of the Calais town hall earlier this month Reuters/Pascal Rossignol

Some 250 asylum-seekers assembled at outside the port and tried to board lorries.

When one fell while trying to climb onto a truck, some of the migrants tried to stop the ambulance that had come to take him to hospital.

Then they tried to try to force their way past the border controls and threw stones at the police, who dispersed the crowd

Migrants have been seeking to cross the English Channel from Calais since the mid-1990s, feeling Britain has favourable asylum policies, although they have been toughened up by a number of measures.

The migrants’ numbers have swelled in recent months from several hundred to as many as 2,000, raising tensions with the local council, security forces and between different camps of migrants themselves.

Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart has called for more security forces to be sent to the port and even threatened to close the port of British authorities did not do more to help.

Britain has since offered to send over the strong security fences used at a recent Nato meeting in Wales.

The president of the port, Jean-Marc Puissesseau, told RFI that many players have to work together to find a solution.