These are pictures which will startle and anger Britain. As the Government promises to stop the Channel boats every one of these men, women, and children are gathering at a bus stop near Dunkirk to catch a traffickers’ ride to Dover and a new life in England.
They were snapped at midday yesterday in Graveline, a port on the French coast, by an astonished Daily Mail photographer passing by in a car.
All the migrants at the quayside bus stop were waiting for a free local ride to the beaches to run towards the boats which are now operated like a taxi service across to Dover.
In the pictures, the migrants were laughing, joking, believing that their dream of a house, a government living allowance, and the chance of asylum awaited them 21 miles across the English Channel.
‘There was a mood of relief,’ said the photographer, Steve Finn. ‘They didn’t seem stressed. It was the last leg of a long journey from Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan or north Africa.’
Meanwhile, the French police are understood to have watched on as the migrants waited for the beach buses ‘I never saw them intervene,’ said Steve although they were there in uniform at the bus stop.
Most of the hopefuls will have come from the nearby shanty camps in northern France where they wait for the weather to turn calm for a boat crossing.
Others will have been brought ‘like human cargo’ by car or train from safe houses in the French capital of Paris, or nearby city of Lille, by the trafficking ‘ gangs.
Large groups of mostly men were spotted idling at the notorious French people smuggling port of Gravelines near Calais on Friday
Those gathered sat on a bank in the sunshine at the notorious spot, known as the go-to place to board illegal dinghy’s crossing the Channel
A source told the Mail that seven boats were spotted off the coast, in full view of the police, waiting to pick up hopeful migrants
The groups sat or lay down on the port at Gravelines near Calais, possibly waiting for a small boat
As well as men, some women and small children sat around, possible waiting to cross
This weekend the forecast is that there will be little wind in the channel meaning that many crossings are likely to happen.
Within 24 hours, the people you see here may be in Britain and, after a two or three day checking at the Marston reception camp in Kent, will be put in hotels or what is called ‘dispersal’ accommodation anywhere in Britain.
They are likely to claim asylum which means they can get Government paid houses, flats or newbuilds, down our streets while the Home Office’s lengthy process of assessing their claims goes on, sometimes for years.
Once they receive asylum, then the migrants go on the housing list and can be given preference over local people.
Today many thousand migrants are in Calais and Dunkirk hoping for a chance to slip across to the UK. ‘They are like lemmings.
‘They are willing to pay thousands a head to the gangs who operate the sailings’ like a military operation’, I was told yesterday by a dispirited Home Office official.
The disturbing scene at the French bus stop yesterday show the Government’s threat to ‘smash the gangs’ has not been heard among the migrants. And for the traffickers, who are making themselves millionaires, it is business as usual.
