France vows to maintain security at Calais after migrants storm ferry

France's security forces have attempted to maintain order at the port Credit: Reuters

France has reiterated its commitment to maintaining law and order at Calais a day after migrants blocked the port and some stormed a UK-bound ferry prompting calls for the military to be deployed.

Bernard Cazeneuve, France's interior minister, said 35 people had been arrested following the incident, which saw hundreds of migrants blocked the port.

According to a report in the Telegraph, a number of British anarchists were among those arrested.

Trouble flared on Saturday after hundreds of migrants marched towards the port from The Jungle camp, where some 4,000 refugees and migrants are living.

A video posted online showed migrants jumping over a broken fence and entering the French port as more migrants gathered around them.

  • Video by Mattia Leogatti

About 50 stormed P&O's Spirit Of Britain passenger ferry in what Richard Burnett, the chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, called a "shocking breach of security".

"It is now time for the authorities to acknowledge and meet our demand for the French military be deployed to secure the port and its approaches," he said.

Mr Burnett said immediate action was necessary, warning that it is "only a matter of time before our worst fears become a reality and a UK-bound truck driver is killed".

Mr Cazeneuve said that France was determined to maintain security at the port and that mobile forces, including CRS and squadrons of gendarmes, supported by territorial units and border police, had been mobilised for months.