Five migrants shot during brawl in Calais

Five migrants were shot during a giant brawl in Calais, leaving four fighting for their lives yesterday in what the French government called an “unbearable” escalation of violence in a port that serves as a gateway to Britain, reports AFP from Calais. Twenty-two were hospitalised with injuries after three fights across the city, which drew in hundreds of the migrants camped out in the hope of stowing away on a truck bound for England, according to officials.

Four Eritreans, who were shot in the neck, chest, abdomen and spine, were in critical condition, they said. Police were searching for a 37-year-old Afghan suspected of the shooting. A number of other migrants sustained stab wounds in what Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, who visited the scene of one of the clashes near a food distribution point, called an “escalation of violence that has become unbearable for the people of Calais and the migrants”. The violence comes two weeks after President Emmanuel Macron visited Calais with a message of zero tolerance on migrants setting up camps like the sprawling “Jungle” which was razed in 2016.

He later travelled to Britain, where Prime Minister Theresa May agreed to pay more to help stop migrants trying to reach England’s shores and to take in more unaccompanied minors.

Crucially, Macron did not seek to renegotiate a controversial 2003 deal effectively pushing Britain’s borders back onto French soil.

Five migrants shot during brawl in Calais

Five migrants were shot during a giant brawl in Calais, leaving four fighting for their lives yesterday in what the French government called an unbearable escalation of violence in a port that serves as a gateway to Britain, reports AFP from Calais. Twenty-two were hospitalised with injuries after three fights across the city, which drew in hundreds of the migrants camped out in the hope of stowing away on a truck bound for England, according to officials. Four Eritreans, who were shot in the neck, chest, abdomen and spine, were in critical condition, they said. Police were searching for a 37-year-old Afghan suspected of the shooting. A number of other migrants sustained stab wounds in what Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, who visited the scene of one of the clashes near a food distribution point, called an escalation of violence that has become unbearable for the people of Calais and the migrants. The violence comes two weeks after President Emmanuel Macron visited Calais with a message of zero tolerance on migrants setting up camps like the sprawling Jungle which was razed in 2016. He later travelled to Britain, where Prime Minister Theresa May agreed to pay more to help stop migrants trying to reach Englands shores and to take in more unaccompanied minors. Crucially, Macron did not seek to renegotiate a controversial 2003 deal effectively pushing Britains borders back onto French soil.