Video footage (above) has emerged of a mob of migrants attacking a French family outside their home in Calais. The mob can be seen hurling objects at the family before one of the men within the house emerges with an air rifle to ward them off. The man was later taken into custody by police, but has been released while the regional prosecutor considers whether to pursue a case against him.

The incident took place on Saturday afternoon during a large protest against borders stages by a range of socialist groups together with migrants from The Jungle migrant camp. According to the No Borders movement, coach loads of protesters “came from all across France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and also a large contingent from the UK.”

While the main body of the protest passed down Rue Mollien, a central thoroughfare through Calais, a group of protesters and migrants appears to have broken off and headed down a number of residential side streets.

Here they were filmed confronting a family group who were standing outside their home, which quickly raised tensions between the two parties. Tyres and other detritus are thrown at the family, while in the doorway to the house a little girl of about ten years old can be seen looking terrified. A British socialist can be heard shouting “Nazi scum” at the family.

Eventually one of the men in the household emerges brandishing a rifle which he points at the crowd, before protesters intervene and try to shove him and his relatives back through the front door.

Police later confirmed that the rifle was an airsoft gun rather than a live firearm.

Protesters reported the man to nearby police who took him into custody, as is standard in such cases. He was later released, but it remains to be seen whether the prosecutor in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Jean-Pierre Valensi, will pursue charges against him.

When contacted by local paper Nord Littoral yesterday, Mr Valensi refused to comment other than to say that the case is ongoing.

A group of concerned locals known as Les Calaisians en Coleur (Calaisians are Angry) have released a statement on Facebook calling on prosecutors not to pursue a case against the man as he was simply defending his family.

“The aggression [by the migrants] is obvious, and the fact that this family man acted in self-defence is even more so. This man has done nothing except defend his little girl … against an army of illegal immigrants brandishing sticks and an iron bar,” they said.

“[When considering his case] the prosecutor will have to take into account the fact that …migrants unleashed an attack against this family. This act of defence happened because the entire political class has left the Calaisians to fend for themselves.

“Although we are aware that custody is a normal procedure for acts such as this one, it would be perverse for the state to pursue a case against this family man. We note also that the attackers themselves have not been placed in custody.”

A second protest has been organised by the socialist groups to take place this afternoon.

Follow Donna Rachel Edmunds on Twitter: Follow @Donna_R_E or e-mail to: dedmunds@breitbart.com

