Belgium border LOCKDOWN: Border guards scramble fearing Calais Jungle migrant rush
BELGIAN security forces are trying to bolster border checks fearing the Calais Jungle migrants will storm the country and build a new Jungle and route to Britain.
Border police fear a new Jungle camp will be built in Belgium
Officials in Belgium are prepared to do “whatever it takes” to stop migrants fleeing the doomed shanty town in Calais to set up another Jungle-type camp.
But they are restricted by the Schengen freedom of movement agreement, so can do little more than bring in 120 extra police officers to patrol the French border.
The Belgian government has been dreading the migrant camp’s closure for months, fearing Zeebrugge will become the next hotspot route.
The port, which is just 80 miles up the coast from Calais, links Belgium with Hull.
The Belgian interior minister, Jan Jambon, said more than 50 police officers would be sent to help guard the border on Saturday, and 70 more would arrive on Monday, which is when demolition teams will begin to dismantle the Jungle camp.
The Belgian migrant hunters will remain stationed on the border with France for a minimum of two months, or until the refugee crisis in Calais dies down.
French officials have been trying to dismantle the Calais Jungle
More than 500 Britain-bound Calais immigrants attempt to cross into Belgium each month; but a vast majority of them get caught on the way to Zeebrugge, and end up back in France hours later.
Express.co.uk previously reported how up to 30-40 migrants a day were arriving in Zebruggee in the summer, the last time France tried to clear the southern part of the Jungle in spring.
We also revealed how the fishing port was more vulnerable as security was poorer than Calais.
The vast majority of migrant on the Calais border want to cross the Channel into the UK
Refugees try to board UK-bound trucks at Calais
When Zeebrugge first became a target for migrants earlier this year Belgian officials ordered a partial border shutdown and imposed systematic border checks to contain the flow of displaced migrants attempting to cross illegally into Belgium – going against the very nature of the EU’s Schengen freedom of movement policy.
Mr Jambon, a hardline right-winger, said an extraordinary influx of south zone migrants into Zeebrugge – which is an upmarket, family-friendly spa town – would scare off tourists and put a dent in the local economy.
The Belgian right-wing fear that the refugees will scare off tourists
But the Belgian interior minister’s decision to tighten border controls and beef up security did not please his French counterpart, Bernard Cazeneuve, who said Mr Jambon had decided to seal his side of the border without giving the French “any prior warning”.
This time around, however, French and Belgian officials have pledged to work together in an effort to stop Belgium from being sucked into – and sharing the burden of – the migrant crisis in Calais.