'Religious tensions' spark gunfight in French migrant camp
Forty shots fired in clashes apparently between rival smugglers' gangs in Grande-Synthe migrant camp just three days after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn visited the squalid site
Police intervention in Grande Synthe migrant camp near Calais, after the exchange of gunfire. Photo: Photoshot
2:00PM GMT 27 Jan 2016
A gunfight erupted in the Grande-Synthe migrant camp in northern France
overnight with "forty shots fired", four wounded, and special police
sent in to quell clashes thought to involve rival banks of smugglers.
Two men were treated overnight for gunshot wounds, a third for stab wounds and a woman for blows to the head.
Four people were being held for questioning on charges of attempted
voluntary homicide, according to prosecutors at nearby Dunkirk.
Police believe the fight erupted between rival people smuggling gangs
against a backdrop of simmering tensions between Muslims and Christians
in the camp.
David Michaux, a CRS
anti-riot officer from the Unsa-police union, told Le Figaro: "There is a
real problem of Muslims and non-Muslims. Most of the camp's 3,000-odd
occupants are Muslim Kurds from Iraq, Iran and Syria but a minority are
Christians from Iran.
"The Muslims are trying to expel the Christians from the camp," Mr Michaux claimed.
A father and daughter at the rapidly-growing camp in the Grand-Synthe district of Dunkirk, which will become the first official refugee camp in France for 12 years Photo: Warren Allott/The Telegraph
Police found 9mm bullet casings but despite sending in scores of ant-riot officers overnight, no weapons.
Grande-Synthe is just 35 km away from the so-called "Jungle" camp in Calais on France's northern coast. The population has rocketed from a mere 80 in recent months, and now includes 250 children.
Like in Calais, most of the migrants hope eventually to reach Britain, across the Channel. But the camp has been slammed as even worse than the Calais “jungle” as its makeshift tents are situated on dangerous, disease-prone boggy ground next to a motorway.
“This (incident) strengthens our resolve to move the camp to another site where that will be managed (by aid group Médecins Sans Frontières) and which will allow us to limit such tensions,” said the local town hall.
The occupants of Grande-Synthe are due to be relocated to another site housing 2,500 people and equipped with heated tents, running water, toilets and showers so that it meets United Nations standards for refugee camps.
The £1.1 million construction bill will be picked up by the French government but some British MPs fear the new camp risks acting as a magnet for larger numbers of migrants who want to reach Britain.
The gunfight came just three days after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn visited the camp.
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A father and daughter at the rapidly-growing camp in the Grand-Synthe district of Dunkirk, which will become the first official refugee camp in France for 12 years Photo: Warren Allott/The Telegraph
Police found 9mm bullet casings but despite sending in scores of ant-riot officers overnight, no weapons.
Grande-Synthe is just 35 km away from the so-called "Jungle" camp in Calais on France's northern coast. The population has rocketed from a mere 80 in recent months, and now includes 250 children.
Like in Calais, most of the migrants hope eventually to reach Britain, across the Channel. But the camp has been slammed as even worse than the Calais “jungle” as its makeshift tents are situated on dangerous, disease-prone boggy ground next to a motorway.
“This (incident) strengthens our resolve to move the camp to another site where that will be managed (by aid group Médecins Sans Frontières) and which will allow us to limit such tensions,” said the local town hall.
The occupants of Grande-Synthe are due to be relocated to another site housing 2,500 people and equipped with heated tents, running water, toilets and showers so that it meets United Nations standards for refugee camps.
The £1.1 million construction bill will be picked up by the French government but some British MPs fear the new camp risks acting as a magnet for larger numbers of migrants who want to reach Britain.
The gunfight came just three days after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn visited the camp.
CLICK TO READ MORE
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