VIDEO: New footage reveals hundreds of UK-bound migrants roaming through Calais traffic
SHOCKING footage showing hundreds of UK-bound migrants roaming the streets of Calais has today shed new light on the "chaotic and dangerous" crisis paralysing the Channel crossing.
Hundreds of migrants can be seen in the shocking police video
The video, shot on a policeman's helmet camera just this week, lays bare the jaw-dropping number of African refugees massing on France's northern shores hoping to smuggle themselves into Britain.
In the film a single officer desperately tries to fend off dozens of refugees, who can be seen weaving in and out of lines of traffic and breaking into the backs of lorries.
At one point the policeman has to use his tear gas after being brazenly confronted by a gang of young men in the middle of a dual carriageway.
Others leap over crash barriers into the bushes as he approaches on a motorbike, with hundreds if not thousands seen lining the main thoroughfare to French town's ferry port.
The shocking film reveals the chaos gripping Calais, with the police seemingly overwhelmed by the sheer number of migrants.
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Migrants can be seen fleeing from the police bike
The officer had to deploy his tear gas after being surrounded by angry migrants
This migrant left it to the very last minute to leap out of the path of the oncoming bike
The new footage was released to debunk accusations that police officers are too heavy-handed with crowds of refugees, who spend their days trying to break into the back of lorries on busy motorways.
Instead it shows a French police force stretched to breaking point, with not another officer in sight despite the chaotic scenes unfolding.
A French police source said: "He's caught out in the middle of a busy road, with just a tear gas canister to try and clear the migrants.
"The video shows what a chaotic and dangerous task we have."
The officer is seen speeding along a motorway on the hard shoulder in the wrong direction responding to an SOS call from a colleague who is in trouble.
Along his short route hundreds of migrants can be seen in the road, with many crowding around an HGV lorry, which has had its back doors pulled open.
Refugees can be seen brazenly threatening the police, before clambering over crash barriers and fencing to avoid arrest.
Gangs of migrants can be seen roaming by the roadside
Dozens of refugees line the streets in Calais
The film was released in response to an investigation by authorities in the port town, launched after French police were caught on camera physically attacking migrants.
A video showed officers kicking, pushing and threatening the men with truncheons as they try to sneak aboard lorries.
At one stage a migrant was sprayed in the face with anti-riot gas, while others were seen desperately running away from armed officers.
Calais Migrant Solidarity, the filmmakers, said that "everyday police brutality" was one of the reasons so many migrants wanted to get to Britain.
Many are also drawn to the UK by its booming economy and lavish welfare system, which pays out benefits even while they are waiting to hear if their asylum application has been successful.
There are currently up to 3,000 migrants sleeping rough in the Calais area, and police are regularly ordered to raze their makeshift camps.
Despite this, hundreds arrive by the week from war-torn countries including Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan, as well as Afghanistan and Syria.
All play a daily game of cat and mouse with the authorities as they try to get to Britain.
A crowd of migrants can be seen brazenly wandering in the street
Refugees can also be seen breaking into the back of a lorry