Work on Calais wall to start this month, Britain says

Built from smooth concrete to make it hard to scale without ladders, the wall will be part of £17m package of measures the United Kingdom is undertaking with the French, which also include investing in space for 200 lorries at Calais so that they have somewhere safe to wait.

Lorries and tractors converged on Calais in two go-slow motorway protests from Dunkirk and Boulogne, as farmer and trucker unions joined the protest.

Protesters from Calais itself plan to block main roads and form a human chain on the way to the port.

According to Robert Goodwill, security has been intensified as immigrants have continued to try to board vehicles heading for Britain.

It would be located on either side of the main dual carriageway to the ferry port, as part of measures to prevent people trying to stop traffic and climb into lorries.

Deputy chief executive James Hookham said: “We have been frustrated by the lamentable reaction of the French Government so far given the collapse of public order in the Calais region, and the impossible position it has put their citizens and businesses in”. We have to escalate things, because for months now the situation has been getting worse and worse.

“I heard a story this morning of even a auto being dumped in front of a truck to bring it to a stop so that migrants could attempt to get into the back”.

“Now there is looting and wilful destruction, tarpaulins are slashed, goods stolen or destroyed. Drivers go to work with fear in their bellies and the economic consequences are severe”, he said.

Aid groups warn that a hasty shutdown of the camp would scatter the migrants, aggravate the city’s troubles and worsen the humanitarian drama.

The site has also become the focus of political debate in both France and Britain.

Since previous year, Calais has served as the location of the Jungle, notorious for its awful living conditions.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced Friday that the government would dismantle the camp “in a controlled operation” as soon as possible, but did not say when.

The camp is home to some 9,000 migrants living in squalid tents and makeshift shelters.

The protestors blocked the A16 highway, a route used by freight and passengers crossing to Britain via the Eurotunnel and Calais port. Organizers said the protest could last several days.