world

Eurotunnel: 37,000 migrant crossing attempts blocked

26 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.


26 Comments
Login to comment

They've found some exhausted people on the M20 who made it through! The landscape must look exactly the same as in northern France, bleak and inhospitable. What dreams do people entertain to keep them coming like this? It reminds me of that film, Elysium.

When the tunnel was built we were all assured that even a rabid fox would not be able to breach the security at the entrance in Calais. Only with that assurance did the majority of the population somewhat reluctantly agree to the building of the thing. But surely no-one ever imagined a tsunami of people!

Time to close the tunnel? Crank up some of the old ferries?

A free house in the UK and full benefits? How do you counteract people's illusions? What is the solution?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

How hard is it to guard a tunnel really?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Inevitable result of globalisation, huge wealth disparities, an unequal trading system that impoverishes commodity producers and underdeveloped countries and our inability to do somethingh about the corrupt and incomepetent politicians in many poor countries. Plus religious wars. Sure tunnel could be guarded if guards were prepared to shoot to kill or if the barriers were deadly (e.g. electronic fence). but that is not going to happen.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Wouldn't happen if UKIP were in charge.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

@onagagamo

It'd be ten times worse. Just in the opposite direction....

2 ( +4 / -2 )

'Wouldn't happen if UKIP were in charge.'

'It'd be ten times worse. Just in the opposite direction....'

Har! Incidentally, onagagamo, what do you think the kippers would do? Get their massively expanded, chained-up prison population to brick it up to keep the riff-raff out?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Inevitable result of globalisation, huge wealth disparities, an unequal trading system that impoverishes commodity producers and underdeveloped countries and our inability to do somethingh about the corrupt and incomepetent politicians in many poor countries. Plus religious wars.

You forgot to mention people having too many kids.

No outside imperialistic money grubbing Wall Street weapons peddling first world carpetbaggers are responsible for that little problem.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Nobody wants these people, Denial is making the problem worse. Send them back to where they came from, no if's no buts. Or cull them. The French have a fine working class hunting tradition after all.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

They are already in France. Why are they so desperate to get to the UK?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@JeffLee. Many foreigners in France complain about racism and discrimination, especially if you are not white. I'm not saying the UK is a nirvana of racial peace and harmony, it certainly is not, but it's much better than France.

And it does annoy me when people use England when they mean UK, they are not the same. They are not seeking a better life in England, they are seeking it in the UK.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Elizabeth,

That's nonsense.

Economic migrants want benefits. Only Britain is stupid enough to have a system that allows people who know to flaunt the system to become residents and suck on the social tit.

That's why they're living in squallor in France because no one in Europe has the political will to do what is necessary and the Brits are pretty unfairly using France as a buffer zone.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

The French Government must process these foreigners, differentiate between migrates and asylum seekers and repatriate where necessary, in the mean time close the channel tunnel, and focus on alternatives.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The Eurotunnel is a matter of national security, one not to be left to private companies.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

@Madverts. You are the talking nonsense. Try living in France for a while.

As for benefits, I suggest you stop reading UKIP propaganda and find out for yourself that those in the UK illegally get nothing from the state.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Yes, living in France is an absolutely nightmarish existence that no person should ever have to endure... unless of course they happen to speak French, in which case it's extremely pleasant.

Actually, something like 95% of asylum seekers from French speaking African countries like Mali and Senegal are applying for asylum in France rather than going to Calais. So I don't think you can say that all migrants prefer the UK over France for economic reasons. Language seems to play a huge part in this.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@M3M3M3

"Actually, something like 95% of asylum seekers from French speaking African countries like Mali and Senegal are applying for asylum in France"

These people aren't asylum seekers. Being on French soil, they have the right to apply for refugee status, given the hell-hole countries they came from. But they don't. I suppose we could speculate on the reasons why.

@Elizabeth Heath

Thanks for answering my question, but have you ever been to Marseilles? Frances does in fact have a history of accepting and - yes - even integrating all sorts of people from around the world. I know Vietnamese who arrived with nothing and became firmly middle/professional class within a couple of decades.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

These people aren't asylum seekers. Being on French soil, they have the right to apply for refugee status

Is there a great difference between refugee and asylum seeker? If so, please explain.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

It's an invasion by people who have already demonstrated they have no respect for the law. What country would want such people? The pathetic response of the UK government shows they have no will to defend the country. What is the point in spending $20 billion on a nuclear weapon system when you just sit there and let the country be overrun by all sorts of undesirables?

At some point resettlement camps will have to be set up in north Africa to hold these people as the number will only grow if nothing is done. In the past, Africans wanted independence from us but now they seem to be clamouring to live under European rule once again. Perhaps it's time for the return of colonialism.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

@JeffLee

Yes, you're right about France taking in people from around the world. I've lived in both countries and the French certainly don't treat minorities as poorly as the British like to imagine (and vice versa).

I think the biggest difference is in how the UK and France view the claims. It's not exactly clear (since they don't publish specifics) but from what I've read, the UK accepts claims if the person has a well founded fear of persecution from either the state, criminal gangs, rebels, militias, religious groups etc etc... as where France tends to only accept persecution by the state itself, everything else is seen as a local law enforcement issue. So in reality, many of the people in Calais are genuine refugees by UK standards, but not by French standards. There should be a common policy across Europe.

If the UK is so confident that these are economic migrants who would never be granted asylum even by UK standards, then perhaps the UK should take them all, process them and repatriate them back to their home countries to send a message. Instead, the UK is spending millions on building fences in France, which leads me to believe they don't have much confidence in their own claims.

@albaleo

Like most people I tend to use refugee and asylum seeker interchangeably but a refugee is someone who is travelling to another country in order to avoid persecution. An asylum seekers is someone who has filed an application for asylum in another country. So technically anyone can be an 'asylum seeker' for a few months, but eventually they will either become a genuine refugee or a failed asylum seeker. With that in mind, JeffLee is correct when he says the people in Calais are not asylum seekers, but that doesn't mean that they are not genuine refugees... because nobody knows what their story is until they file an application and it gets processed.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Eurotunnel count multiple entry attempts by a single individual as separate attempts.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/30/the-only-migrant-madness-is-the-tabloid-pretence-about-events-in-calais

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@Madverts. You are the talking nonsense. Try living in France for a while. As for benefits, I suggest you stop reading UKIP propaganda and find out for yourself that those in the UK illegally get nothing from the state.

So the last 18 years I've lived in France doesn't count yet?

Political parties like UKIP and le FN exist because of the Denial you are preaching.. Economic migrants know that once their grubby feet are on British soil they will never, ever be deported thanks to politically correct dementia. They may not speak English but already know how to play the system like a hardened benefit scammer.

That means you're much more of a UKIP supporter. Enjoy.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Large black market No ID cards Perception of easy benefits English language

That's why so many want to live there.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Not that many people actually. Add a zero to it and match the US Mexican boarder.

Why can't we call the UK England? The people are English, Not United Kingdomers.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

JapanGal: England is only one of the countries in the UK last I looked and people from the UK are British not English.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@JapanGal I'm sure the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish would disagree with you. Try wikipaedia, they have an idiot proof page on the UK.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

JapanGal, call the UK population English if you like, you'll only get it wrong 17% of the time. Can't vouch for the reaction of that 17% if you get it wrong in front of them though.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites