French police said yesterday that they have detained over 18,000 migrants in Calais trying to reach the UK illegally so far this year, double the amount detained during the same period last year.
French police said they have detained approximately 18,170 migrants living rough and on Monday had evicted another 360 migrants from under a makeshift shelter near the Gare du Nord station in the heart of Paris.
French police and local authorities are under increasing pressure to find suitable housing for the migrants, mostly of African or Middle Eastern origin. Calais has become a flash point of Europe's migrant crisis with makeshift humanitarian camps erected near Calais becoming overcrowded as increasing numbers try to reach Britain illegally by stowing away on trucks or ferries.
Aside from the poor living conditions, aid groups claim the migrants are experiencing racism on a daily basis, while tensions between opposing groups of migrants are rife within opposing camps as they compete for materials to build makeshift camps in the best spots for easier access to Calais's port.
On Monday, the Associated French Press reported that a mass brawl had broken out between migrants living rough in Calais whilst they gathered to receive the few hot meals the government provides. 24 people were injured and 14 people were admitted to hospitals after brawls broke out across the camps, with many tents set also on fire.
Maya Konforti, who works for a migrant aid group based in Calais, l'Auberge des Migrants, described the situation as totally out of control, telling Newsweek there is a desperate shortage of food, water and electricity for the migrants with many barely surviving on "one meal a day, which is not enough".
Konforti claims that toilet facilities are also very poor, and when they are provided, they are only available from noon-7pm in crowded day centres.
Outside of the camps, migrants also face police violence. A video posted by l'Auberge des Migrants last month showing police beating and shoving migrants in Calais gained international attention. French police pledged to put an end to police violence against the migrants, however Konforti claims, it "still goes on during the night when nobody is watching".
One migrant in Calais named Dawood, a 26-year-old migrant from Sudan interviewed by the Times, said: "We all thought we'd find human rights here in France," said Dawood. "But so far we haven't seen any human rights at all. We know that England will be much better."
Another Sudanese migrant based in Calais told the Times: "We are treated worse than animals here."
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