Lille - Thirteen people were injured, two of them seriously, when hundreds of Afghan and Kurdish refugees clashed in a Red Cross hostel near the Channel port of Calais yesterday, ambulance services said.
Several people were stabbed before French riot police restored order, officials said. The clashes at the Sangatte centre were linked to last Friday's decision by French and British leaders to tighten measures to prevent would-be migrants from entering Britain illegally.
Officials said the violence was sparked by the presence of a smuggler who specialises in getting people into Britain illegally. Many of the 850 people in the shelter are among the 1,700 people prevented last month from entering Britain from Calais.