Sangatte refugees take over sports hall

A group of about 50 asylum-seekers who were refused entry to the Sangatte refugee camp occupied a sports hall in Calais yesterday.

Police prevented more refugees entering the hall last night in what the Communist mayor of the town, Jacky Hénin, said could become an "explosive" situation.

Left-wing and human rights activists helped migrants enter the sports hall in retaliation for Tuesday's closure of the Red Cross camp to new entrants. The camp is due to close permanently at the end of April.

About 100 refugees a day, mainly Kurds, are still coming to the area hoping to enter Britain illegally.

M. Hénin said sealing the camp and seizing the hall were publicity-seeking gestures that could set migrants and local people against one another.

Mickael Dauvergne, of the "resistance collective" set up to help the refugees, said: "We aim to provoke a national crisis of conscience ... More people are arriving each night and we can't just leave them in the rain and cold."