Riot police fire tear gas at migrants storming motorway in Calais …as France finally says it will knock down the Jungle
Masked thugs lit fires and barricaded the road in the latest chaotic scenes in crisis-hit port
RIOT police fired tear gas into the Calais Jungle to hold back hundreds of UK-bound migrants attempting to storm the motorway leading to the port yesterday.
Gangs of balaclava-clad refugees lit fires and barricaded the road as they tried to ambush traffic heading to the ferry terminal.
The standoff forced traffic to a standstill for over an hour as heavily armed officers in body armour battled to clear the road.
Brits returning from holidays on the Continent would have been caught up in the chaos, which comes after tourists and truckers pelted with rocks and tree branches as their drove through in recent weeks.
We told today how champion equestrian Lucy Phillips was terrified as men blocked the road and started smashing her horsebox in a bid to break in.
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The latest clashes with police came as French government vowed the tent city - now home to 10,000 people - will finally be torn down as the crisis in Calais spirals out of control.
The shantytown has doubled its population since June with hundreds more arriving each week.
Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said ahead of a visit to Calais today he wants to see the migrants dispersed to other parts of the country.
He said he would press ahead with his own plans "with the greatest determination" and will demolish the whole camp so as to "unblock Calais".
It follows demands from rival politicians including presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy to move the Jungle to England so it is no longer France's problem.
Earlier this year, demolition crews supported by riot squads demolished the south side of the camp, but aerial pictures show how hundreds of tents and DIY wooden shacks have sprung up outside the authorised zones.
Outlining a policy that has failed in the past, Mr Cazeneuve said coaches and planes would be used to take the thousands of residents to refugee centres as far away as the south of France.
He said: "We have dismantled the southern area in early March, and we have already begun that of the north.
"This has to be done in stages, starting with creating more accommodation places in France, so as to relieve Calais."
It comes as Paris prepares to welcome thousands of new migrants when at least three new refugee centres open in the capital city this month.
One – next to the Bois du Boulogne – is almost complete, while the main one, close to the Gare du Nord Eurostar hub, is still being built.
All will be designed to give refugees a safe and warm place to stay before they continue with their journeys.
They are expected to attract thousands of asylum seekers from countries such as Afghanistan and Syria who want to get to Britain.
The French capital is already inundated with migrants who sleep rough in city parks, or under flyovers or railway bridges.
Riot police regularly destroy their illegal settlements, but it is impossible to move them on because even if they are dispersed in coaches, they almost always come back again.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd was in Paris on Tuesday, when she and Mr Cazeneuve pledged "close co-operation" in dealing with the growing migrant crisis.
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