My Ferry Link workers burn tyres across key motorway to port, causing gridlock amid attempts by dozens of migrants to cross Channel to UK

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A huge fire set alight by striking French ferry workers brought more disruption to Calais on Friday, causing gridlock on routes towards the port as dozens of migrants made new attempts to reach the UK.

About a dozen workers of My Ferry Link burned tyres across a key motorway leading to the port shortly before midday as part of a long-running dispute over 600 job losses.

The fire, which sent huge plumes of black smoke high into the air over the French port town, brought immediate chaos to the A16 and surrounding roads.

Police and gendarmerie closed off a large section of the motorway leading to the port, causing long queues of lorries and cars stretching for miles around the area.



A Eurotunnel spokesman in France said: “The strikers are blocking the way to the port, not the tunnel. There’s been no effect on the tunnel – our services are operating normally.”

Migrants in Calais and Folkestone - in pictures Read more

One of the ferry workers who started the blaze, who refused to be named, shouted “fuck the English” as he brought more tyres from a waiting van to throw on the fire. He accused British port authorities of refusing to let former My Ferry Link worker’s boats into Dover, and said English ferry companies had undercut their striking French counterparts.

Another man blamed the UK Competition Commission, which ruled in June 2013 that Eurotunnel’s ownership of My Ferry Link broke competition rules and stated that it could no longer operate ferry services from Dover.

Josh Halliday (@JoshHalliday) Motorway to Eurotunnel deserted due to My Ferry Link fire. Expect delays. https://t.co/SBC9ekTwzb

Josh Halliday (@JoshHalliday) My Ferry Link dispute not really connected to migrant crisis but last thing under pressure French governmen... https://t.co/En0e7Rio3E

Last month port workers started a similar fire blockading the Eurotunnel entrance during a strike organised by members of the Maritime Nord union.



The Calais region – Nord Pas de Calais – has one of the highest unemployment rates in France: 13% compared with 10% nationwide.

Earlier on Friday the tunnel was temporarily closed while officials carried out an inspection after more migrants attempted to enter overnight at the entrance in Coquelles.



French police attempted to form a ring of steel around the tunnel on Thursday night, prompting an evening of scuffles and standoffs with migrants attempting to breach the terminal in Calais.



Up to a hundred migrants attempted to overrun police lines at a petrol station near the Eurostar terminal but were held back by baton-wielding gendarmes and riot vans. Two migrants who made it through were photographed clinging to the top of a lorry as it left the Eurotunnel terminal at Folkestone.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Two migrants cling to the roof of a freight lorry as it leaves the Eurotunnel terminal. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

A second standoff began later on Thursday evening when police stopped and searched a Syrian man on suspicion of carrying a sharp object to cut fences. A crowd of about 50 migrants, mostly from east African countries, swelled in front of a line of around 20 police officers wearing high-visibility jackets as the man was separated from the group and questioned.

During the standoff, the man’s friend, Adam, 27, from Syria, told the officers: “We are just trying to cross for a safe place. Why all this police? We have a war in our countries and we need a safe place.”



Later, Adam said he was one of about 50 migrants in Calais who had fled Syria since Islamic State militants overran large swaths of the country. “The English government has to accept the people who has a war in his country ... but if he doesn’t have a war then leave him here. We [Syrians] have a big war,” he said, sitting with his hood up and his back to the police line.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest War weary Syrian refugees plead to cross channel through Eurotunnel at Calais – video

When the standoff ended after 30 minutes, a French police officer told the migrants: “Here is your friend. All is OK. Go home, get sleep. See you tomorrow.”



The night of simmering tension was in contrast to the scenes on Tuesday night when a Sudanese man died as hundreds of migrants made 1,500 attempts to storm the Channel tunnel, prompting crisis meetings of the French and British governments.



The deputy mayor of Calais, Philippe Mignonet, reacted angrily to British prime minister David Cameron’s remarks that there was “a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean, seeking a better life, wanting to come to Britain”.

Describing the prime minister’s comment as the “typical words of ignorance”, Mignonet said it was time for Cameron to attend a meeting in the French port town to see the situation and speak to migrants himself. “It is proof that David Cameron doesn’t know anything about the situation – the only wish he has is to protect his border,” he told 5News.

On Friday Cameron warned that the Calais migrant crisis would likely last throughout the summer, as he announced additional security measures to protect the Eurotunnel railhead in France.

More sniffer dogs and fencing are to be sent to Calais and Ministry of Defence land is to be used as a lorry park to ease related road congestion in Dover.