French cops use tear gas in running battles with hundreds of migrants trying to clamber on lorries bound for Britain
Huge clouds of the gas drifted across the main road and the migrant camp
HUNDREDS of migrants near the Calais Jungle camp clashed with French police last night as they attempted to climb onto lorries heading to Britain.
Police used tear gas on the 300-strong group of people who used obstacles to block traffic to the port.
During the clash police grappled with migrants on a busy main road and deployed clouds of tear gas to disperse the people desperately trying to cross the border into the UK.
Several people managed to get onto the top of some lorries and tried to cut through the tarpaulin to get into the cargo container.
The main road leading to the Calais port was closed for several hours while the disturbance between migrants and police took place.
Some drivers were caught up in the tear gas crossfire as they waited to cross the Channel.
No one was injured and one migrant was arrested for hurling rocks, French police said.
French MP and former employment minister Xavier Bertrand has blamed the UK's "unregulated jobs market" for the current immigrant crisis on the northern French coast.
He also called for the British border to be moved from Calais to Dover, so migrants could claim asylum there when they arrived.
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Camps for people attempting to enter Britain illegally have been set up in various parts of Calais since 1999, but have recently had to cope with thousands more people fleeing Eritrea, Somalia and Syria.
Large groups of immigrants there have frequently tried to cross the French border into the UK and clashed with police in the past few years.
Mr Bertrand told France Info radio: "We all know why they are in Calais. They are there because they want to get to England, where they don't need identity papers.
"These migrants need telling that in England, they will become cheap clandestine labour for English employers."
He said France should tear up the 2003 Le Touquet agreement between Paris and London which placed the UK border at the ferry and Eurotunnel terminals in Calais, and said: "The British border is in Dover."
Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart also blamed Britain's economy for thousands of migrants in her town.
She said: "There are no ID cards. They can easily find work outside the formal economy, which is not really controlled.
"Calais is a hostage to the British. The UK border should be moved from Calais to the English side of the Channel because we're not here to do their jobs."
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