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Illegal migrants try to storm ferries at Calais
P&O Ferries is calling on French authorities to do more to protect its ferries and passengers after a worrying incident at Calais yesterday.
Large groups of illegal migrants at the port tried to force their way onto P&O and Myferry ships and had to be stopped with fire hoses and police intervention.
P&O said the captain of the P&O ferry Spirit of Britain saw a large group of around 100 migrants running towards the berths in Calais at 15.45 yesterday afternoon.
He was told by port control not to moor the ship and he stayed in the inner harbour.
He then watched the crew of the MyFerryLink Berlioz use their fire hoses to repel migrants running towards that ship up the loading ramp.
A spokesman for P&O said police then moved in to escort the migrants out of the port.
"The police have been maintaining the integrity of port security overnight and we have been putting pressure on the French authorities to ensure port security is maintained properly," he said.
"We are, of course, concerned that it might happen again and we have seen some extraordinary events over the last few peak weekends with migrants running amok on the motorway outside the port when queues have formed prior to the UKBA controls.
"They have tried, often successfully, to gain access to freight vehicles and have also been targeting caravans and motorhomes. We have asked the French authorities to do more to prevent such interference."
Earlier this week, the mayor of Calais threatened to close the port unless Britain did more to help to control the migrants, which she said had ‘taken hostage’ of her city.
More than 1,000 migrants are living in illegal camps at Calais, hoping they can get across to the UK.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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