CALAIS, France, Sept 9 (AFP) — Police in the northern French port of Calais said Tuesday they had detained a group of about 60 Sudanese migrants who were squatting in a disused warehouse and placed them in preventive detention.
Police said the migrants were "in a rather precarious state."
Last week, more than a dozen people were injured in brawls between Sudanese and Iraqi Kurd migrants in an industrial zone of Calais known as a staging area for illegal migrants hoping to reach Britain as stowaways aboard lorries.
A controversial refugee holding center in the nearby town of Sangatte, which was long a source of tension between Paris and London, was closed late last year in a bid to stop the illegal passage of thousands of migrants through the Channel tunnel or as stowaways on ferries to Britain.
But Calais, which houses ferry and rail services across the Channel, has continued to be a focus for migrants bent on reaching Britain, with dozens roaming through the streets every day.
Latest Comments & Analysis
A new approach to peace 2018-04-23 06:16:35 By Miroslav Laják When the United Nations was created, its founders envisioned a different kind of world. A world in which disputes were resolved in meeting rooms and not battlefields. A world (...)
Bring Sudanese troops home now 2018-04-21 15:25:57 By Salah Shuaib The Sudanese troops fighting hard now in Yemen, who were sent there by order of al-Bashir, should return home. The process of implementing this task is much challenging. But, we (...)
Dissolution and formation of the Cabinet - 2013 2018-04-20 08:00:00 Amb Telar Deng The events that led to the 2013 dissolution of cabinet can be traced back to the deep mistrust that fermented back in 1991 when leaders failed to close ranks. After the 1991 (...)
MORE