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Officers deployed the extreme crowd control tactics after asylum seekers defied the orders of the town’s prefect and held a rowdy demonstration against border controls. Migrants from the notorious Jungle camp carried placards ordering Theresa May to “tear down” the new wall Britain is building around the port to protect vulnerable truckers from nightly attacks.

REUTERS/AFP Police have fired water cannon during clashes with migrants in Calais

Others masked their faces with Union Jack flags as they clashed with riot police who desperately tried to restore order to the lawless town, which has been plagued by violence. Police officials said that the violence kicked off after around 200 migrants and 50 protesters assembled under a bridge to protest against living conditions in the Jungle shanty town.

REUTERS Around 200 migrants were involved in the protest

REUTERS The asylum seekers demanded to be let into the UK

AFP The town's prefect had placed a ban on migrant related demonstrations

Thuggish activists hurled stones at security forces as they clashed with migrants and tried to push them back towards the camp, which President Francois Hollande has vowed to raze to the ground by the end of the year. Some protesters were reportedly injured in the clashes, including one who apparently broke their arm. It is not clear whether any police officers have been hurt. And the violence could have been worse if officers had not caught a large group of 150 protesters who left Paris early today aboard four coaches destined for Paris.

AFP Britain is building a 'Great Wall of Calais' to keep migrants off the main highway

AFP Francois Hollande has also vowed to dismantle the Jungle camp

AFP There are as many as 10,000 migrants living in and around Calais

They were blocked by police at a toll road about 30 miles (48 km) short of the northern port town and were eventually turned back around to the French capital. The controversial protest was organised despite Calais Prefect Fabienne Buccio placing a blanket ban on all public gatherings concerning migrants, which was initially designed to protect the town from far-right and neo-Nazi protests. Up to 10,000 migrants are believed to be living in and around Calais, with many making nightly attempts to reach Britain by sneaking onto trains using the Channel Tunnel or lorries.