Migrants armed with knives attack a bus after learning they are being taken 'far from Britain' after riot police demolish 1,200-strong Dunkirk camp, which included 150 lone children
- Migrants threatened to set evacuation buses on fire after smashing a window
- Riot started when migrants discovered they were being taken far from Britain
- Residents of the migrant centre are almost exclusively Kurds from northern Iraq
By
Nick ***ge In Grande-synthe, France, For Mailonline
Published: 01:51 AEST, 18 September 2019 | Updated: 01:55 AEST, 18 September 2019
Migrants evacuated from the sprawling camp at Grande-Synthe threatened to set fire to a bus transporting them away and smashed a window after they discovered they were being taken far from the Britain.
Riot police descended on the 1,200-strong camp this morning with bulldozers and 150 children were left unaccompanied, according to the Help Refugees charity.
Police and fire-fighters intercepted two coaches at a motorway toll after one driver raised the alarm of an on-board riot taking place at about 10am this morning.
Riot police were called in and stormed one of the buses to restore order among the 20 passengers some two hours later.
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Migrants evacuated from the sprawling camp at Grande-Synthe threatened to set fire to a bus transporting them away and smashed a window after they discovered they were being taken far from the Britain. The camp was evacuated with bulldozers this morning
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Riot police descended on the 1,200-strong camp this morning with bulldozers and left 150 children unaccompanied when the site was evicted, according to the Help Refugees charity
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Five migrants from the camp (pictured after it was cleared by riot police), Iraqi Kurds, were arrested on public order offences and taken into custody at the French Border Force headquarters at Coquelles
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Police and fire-fighters intercepted the two coaches at a motorway toll after one driver raised the alarm of an on-board riot taking place at about 10am this morning. Pictured are moving buses used to transport migrants away from the camp near Grande-Synthe, Dunkirk
Five migrants, Iraqi Kurds, were arrested on public order offences and taken into custody at the French Border Force headquarters at Coquelles.
All the 47 passengers were searched for weapons and cigarette lighters, before the vehicles were allowed to continue their journeys to final destinations in Brittany at about midday.
The unrest began when 20 migrants travelling in the first coach started rioting, with one smashing a window. Others threatened to set the bus on fire with a cigarette lighter.
It is believed that the passengers became enraged when they learned they would be taken to reception centres in Brest and St Malo – hundreds of miles away from their departure point for Britain at the Straits of Dover.
Riot police at the camp at Grande-Synthe discovered half a dozen knives, including a box-cutter, following searches of their possessions before allowing them to board later buses.