Britain will not become a "safe
haven" for migrants in Calais, David Cameron has warned, after hundreds
continued their attempts to reach the UK.
The PM said the UK was
doing all it could to make Britain's borders secure, as migrants told
the BBC they remained determined to reach Britain.
Mr Cameron was speaking after people gathered for a third night at fencing at the Channel Tunnel freight terminal.
More than 3,500 people have tried to get into the tunnel terminal this week.
Several
hundred migrants were escorted away from the terminal by French police
on Wednesday night - the third night of large-scale attempts to storm
the terminal.
At the scene
Lucy Williamson, BBC correspondent
As night
fell, the road towards the Channel Tunnel started to come alive. Groups
of 10 or 12 migrants, moving steadily along the darkened highway,
jackets pulled close, hoods up.
After a day of discussion in Paris
and in London over how to secure the tunnel entrance, and fresh
deployments of riot police, the determination of Calais' migrants seems
unchanged.
People like Jamal - an Ethiopian who arrived here on Wednesday morning.
He
told me he'd spent most of his adult life doing military service in the
Ethiopian army, had spent 10 days drifting in the Mediterranean Sea,
and had crossed six different European countries to get here.
Not
once had his dream of reaching England wavered. For Jamal, a barbed wire
fence, or a brush with police, might change his tactics, but probably
not his goal.
Man crushed
The
fresh attempts came despite the death of a man - described by French
police as Sudanese and aged between 25 and 30 - on Tuesday.
Police said he was probably crushed by a lorry which was exiting one of the shuttles that transport vehicles through the tunnel.
Media captionDavid Cameron said the government was ''totally focused'' on the migrant issue in Calais
Speaking
in Vietnam during his tour of South East Asia, Mr Cameron said the
French had sent an extra 120 police to Calais and the UK was investing
in fencing and security measures at the Channel crossings in both Calais
and Coquelles.
"Everything that can be done will be done to make
sure our borders are secure and make sure that British holidaymakers are
able to go on their holidays," he told the BBC.
The prime
minister acknowledged the situation was "very testing" but insisted the
government was "totally focused" on the problem, with "intensive" talks
going on.
"We have to deal with the problem at source - and that
is stopping so many people from travelling across the Mediterranean in
search of a better life," he said.
He warned that illegal immigrants would be removed from the UK "so people know it's not a safe haven". Motorists
using the tunnel's rail shuttle have seen delays in both the UK and
France, while disruption to freight traffic is set to last all week.
It comes as the Department for Transport announced it was bringing in a temporary relaxation of the rules that limit how long lorry drivers can drive for and how long they must rest to make it easier for businesses caught up in the disruption. Operation Stack - where lorries are made to park on the M20 in Kent when Channel crossings are disrupted - is due to last into the weekend. The
BBC's Gavin Lee said migrants in Calais had told him they would keep
trying to get through a number of holes in security fences. They told
him that going in groups of up to 400 gave them the best chance of
getting into the Channel Tunnel.
Eurotunnel said it had blocked 37,000 migrants trying to make their way to Britain since the beginning of the year.
'Get a grip'
Spokesman
John Keefe told the BBC the situation was intolerable, adding: "It is a
nightly assault by hundreds, if not thousands, of migrants who are
trying to get to the UK by any means possible.
"So they're coming
through the fences, trying to get to the freight terminal, they're
trying to get on to trucks or trains that would eventually carry them to
the UK." UKIP
leader Nigel Farage is among a growing number of politicians who have
called for the government to urge France to do more to resolve the
situation.
He warned unless "something radical is done it is
only a matter of time" before a British holidaymaker or lorry driver
died as a result of the crisis.
Labour's interim leader Harriet Harman called on the government to "get a grip" on the situation.
Meanwhile,
Labour MP Keith Vaz, who chairs the home affairs committee, urged Mr
Cameron to hold talks with French President Francois Hollande on his
return from Asia.
Are you in Calais? Are you affected by the issues raised in this story? Please email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experiences.
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