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Calais migrant crisis: France sends extra police to Channel Tunnel Calais migrant crisis: France sends extra police to Channel Tunnel
(35 minutes later)
France is to send 120 extra police officers to Calais as the migrant crisis there escalates.France is to send 120 extra police officers to Calais as the migrant crisis there escalates.
Migrants attempting to reach Britain told the BBC they would keep trying to enter the Channel Tunnel, despite one man dying there on Tuesday night.Migrants attempting to reach Britain told the BBC they would keep trying to enter the Channel Tunnel, despite one man dying there on Tuesday night.
Operation Stack is due to continue into the weekend with some 3,600 lorries queuing on the M20. Severe delays are also affecting travellers. Severe delays are affecting travellers. Operation Stack is due to continue into the weekend with some 3,600 lorries queuing on the M20.
The home secretary said new fencing was urgently being installed in Calais.The home secretary said new fencing was urgently being installed in Calais.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the extra security officers would be temporarily based in Calais and would help to secure the border and the Eurotunnel site.French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the extra security officers would be temporarily based in Calais and would help to secure the border and the Eurotunnel site.
He also said the UK would contribute an additional 10m euros (£7m) to secure the Channel Tunnel, on top of the 15m euros (£10m) pledged in September to secure the port of Calais. Eurotunnel said 2,000 migrants tried to get into the terminal on Monday and 1,500 had tried on Tuesday.
The BBC's Gavin Lee said migrants he had spoken to in Calais had told him they were aiming to get though a number of holes in security fences. The BBC's Gavin Lee said migrants in Calais had told him they would keep trying to get through a number of holes in security fences.
By going in groups of up to 400 they thought they had a better chance of getting into the tunnel, he said. By going in groups of up to 400 they thought they had a better chance of getting into the tunnel, he added.
They also told him they would continue to use the same tactics. The man who died on Tuesday has been described as Sudanese and aged between 25 and 30.
He is the ninth person to die trying to access the tunnel since June.
French police said he was probably crushed by a lorry which was exiting one of the shuttles that transport vehicles through the tunnel.
Eurotunnel says it has blocked 37,000 migrants trying to make their way to Britain since the beginning of the year.
A spokesman said it was an issue for the government to "sort out", adding. "We need them to stop the migrant flow from Calais but it appears to be too much for them to handle."
Home Secretary Theresa May said some migrants had reached Britain through the Channel Tunnel, but did not say how many had arrived.Home Secretary Theresa May said some migrants had reached Britain through the Channel Tunnel, but did not say how many had arrived.
Speaking after a meeting of the government's emergency Cobra committee, she said: "Crucially what we are looking at now is improving security at the railhead at Coquelles, so we can ensure people are not trying to come through the tunnel.Speaking after a meeting of the government's emergency Cobra committee, she said: "Crucially what we are looking at now is improving security at the railhead at Coquelles, so we can ensure people are not trying to come through the tunnel.
"That means some urgent work in government but also with Eurotunnel, and Eurotunnel has a role to play here in the measures they themselves put in place to protect their trains.""That means some urgent work in government but also with Eurotunnel, and Eurotunnel has a role to play here in the measures they themselves put in place to protect their trains."
The UK has said it will contribute an additional £7m (10m euros) to secure the Channel Tunnel, on top of £10m (15m euros) it pledged in September.
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Labour MP Keith Vaz, who chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee, said he believed sending extra police would not solve the problem in Calais and called on France and Britain to work together. Labour MP Keith Vaz, who chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee, said he believed sending extra police would not solve the problem in Calais and called on France and Britain to work together to return migrants to their countries of origin where appropriate.
Mr Vaz said: "I went to Kent yesterday and I saw 148 of them who had made the journey and who were delighted because they had been successful in coming here, having evaded all this security, they actually managed to come here."Mr Vaz said: "I went to Kent yesterday and I saw 148 of them who had made the journey and who were delighted because they had been successful in coming here, having evaded all this security, they actually managed to come here."
He added that migrants should be returned to their countries of origin once they have no right to stay in France and said the EU had a responsibility to help Greece and Italy by stopping people crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa. 'Bars and knives'
Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, which represents lorry drivers, said the situation was "escalating".
He said: "We've got hundreds, thousands of examples of drivers that have been talking to us, telling us of their experiences where they've had 10-20 migrants surrounding their trucks, threatening them, taunting them, using bars and knives to bang on the sides of vehicles to threaten them and make them feel vulnerable. This is definitely escalating and it needs to be taken seriously.
He said more action was needed by the UK government to put pressure on France to deal with the problems.
Speaking from Singapore, Prime Minister David Cameron said the government would do "everything we can" to work with the French to resolve the problem.
He added: "There's no point trying to point fingers of blame - it's about working with the French, putting in place these additional security measures, adding in the investment where that's needed. Britain will always come forward with that."
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees' representative in France, Philippe Leclerc, said most of the migrants in Calais were fleeing violence in countries like Syria, Eritrea, Somalia and Afghanistan.
He told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme they were among an estimated 200,000 who have crossed the Mediterranean to Italy and Greece in recent months.
Mr Leclerc said the French authorities should do more to encourage migrants to claim asylum there.