Two bulldozers due to be used to clear migrants' makeshift dwellings from the squalid "Jungle" camp in Calais were burnt over the weekend, amid widespread refusal by the refugees to move into a new container camp.
The path in The Jungle named after the Prime Minister The vehicles parked on the edge of the camp were completely destroyed by the blaze that occurred overnight on Friday, and several of the first containers put in place last week were scrawled with slogans such as "F--- Cameron" and "F--- government," police said.
No one has been arrested for the arson attack that came before the bulldozers were due to be sent in to clear dwellings from part of the camp near the motorway leading to the ferry port where migrants hope they will be able to sneak onto a truck and cross the Channel to Britain.
The new camp being built in the northern French port will consist of 125 containers with beds for 12 people. Officials said that by Friday, 173 people had moved in.
Men stand next to a fire in the camp known as the Jungle Photo: Getty Images Some migrants living in the part of the Jungle earmarked for clearance last week began carrying their makeshift shacks out of the bulldozers' target zone, one by one, as ice-cold wind and rain lashed the camp.
Two charities – Auberge des Migrants and Acted – are helping move the homes, either on flatbed trailers pulled by vans, or simply lifting them by hand.
The migrants are also concerned that if they move into the new facility, they will be forced to apply for asylum in France, according to volunteer aid workers. The French government has denied that migrants, who are mostly from warzones such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq or are fleeing persecution and poverty in African countries such as Sudan and Eritrea, will be compelled to do so.
But officials have been trying to persuade residents of the camps to go to centres elsewhere in the country and apply for asylum.
Many migrants are drawn by family connections and language to Britain, while the migrants often view France as unwelcoming and with limited economic opportunities.