CALAIS (France): Nine months after the closure of the Sangatte refugee camp near the Channel Tunnel, the dream of a new life in Britain is still luring asylum hopefuls to France’s northern coast.

Paris and London declared victory last December in the fight against illegal immigration with a deal under which France shut Sangatte and tightened port security in return for a British pledge to toughen up its asylum law.

Red Cross-run Sangatte had become a base for nightly attempts by asylum-seekers to risk their lives stowed away on trains and lorries passing through the Channel Tunnel.

While only a trickle compared to the total 67,000 immigrants who passed through Sangatte, the 200 or so Sudanese and Kurdish immigrants now sleeping rough in and around the nearby port of Calais show the problem is not licked completely.

“My goal is to get to Britain because I know we’ll be better treated,” said Tarek, a young Turkish Kurd.

At least Red Cross-run Sangatte offered water, toilets and food. Now, the mainly Sudanese and Kurdish immigrants must fend for themselves and tensions between the two groups are palpable.

Police say brawls between the two communities are a daily occurrence. The Sudanese accuse Kurdish gangs of making them pay to get into the parts of the port where it is easiest to sneak onto lorries boarding the ferries.—Reuters