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Calais Port Security Boosted After Strike Chaos

French authorities have drafted extra police officers into Calais to try to prevent a repeat of the chaotic scenes which paralysed the port on Tuesday.

Hundreds of migrants took advantage of a strike by ferry workers to target UK bound lorries stuck at the entrances to the port and the Eurotunnel (Paris: FR0010533075 - news) .

Police were hopelessly outnumbered as they tried to prevent the migrants from prising open the back doors of lorries and climbing aboard.

At Dover, security was also stepped up, with more resources put into screening arrivals.

Workers from the MyFerryLink company had blockaded Calais in a protest over job cuts.

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The strike stopped ferry traffic, forcing drivers to try to use the Eurotunnel service instead and causing long queues on the roads into Calais.

Later on Tuesday, the tunnel itself was shut after striking workers set rubber tyres alight on the tracks.

The chaos left hundreds of lorries stacked up around the port and migrants free to target them.

The growing migrant population in Calais has become increasingly desperate in recent months, no longer waiting till the cover of darkness to sneak aboard British bound lorries.

Now (NYSE: DNOW - news) , in broad daylight, they wait at main roads into the port and attempt to jump onto lorries that slow down or stop.

About 3,000 migrants are estimated to be living rough around Calais, waiting for a chance to cross the channel.

Authorities in the French port say the migrant problem is the worst it has ever been and the migrants, mainly from Africa and the Middle East are arriving at a rate of dozens a day.

Lorry drivers have been advised to make sure all their doors are padlocked, to stick with other drivers and alert the authorities if they suspect people may have climbed aboard their vehicles.

Local politicians in Calais have accused the UK government of not doing enough to help them tackle the crisis.

However, Britain's Immigration Minister James Brokenshire told Sky News the UK was boosting the number of Border Force officers at the port.

Mr Brokenshire also said the government had provided increased funding to the French authorities to help improve the security infrastructure around Calais.

Latest Home Office figures reveal that in the first six months of 2015, more than 19,000 attempts to cross the channel illegally were prevented, double the number of illegal attempts to cross in the same period last year.

French ferry workers have now ended their strike action.

Eurostar services are scheduled to run as normal and the high-speed train company said all services from London today are now full and rebookings are being made for Thursday.