Inside the Little Church in the Jungle: BBC films Songs of Praise at touching chapel Ethiopian migrants have made in Calais camp , Daily Mail

• BBC filming Songs of Praise from a migrant camp in Calais
• Producers have started shooting at Ethiopian Orthodox Church in camp
• Full crew is expected to arrive at the 'Jungle' camp over the weekend 
• MPs and viewers have blasted the decision to film during ongoing crisis

The BBC’s flagship religious show Songs of Praise is being filmed at a touching chapel within a migrants’ camp in Calais, it has emerged.

Producers have already spent two days shooting an episode at a makeshift Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the 'Jungle' camp, which will be broadcast on a date to be finalised.

And the full crew for Songs of Praise is due to arrive at the centre of the 5,000-strong camp this weekend - but host Aled Jones said he would not be present.

This comes amid a worsening crisis which has seen nine people lose their lives after thousands of migrants stormed the Channel Tunnel in a desperate attempt to build a new life in Britain.

Read more here from The Daily Mail

Comment:

From being politically neutral  and promoting Christian values,  I’ve noticed recently that  Songs of Praise is promoting a left wing agenda and calling Christian Values not relevant.

 

Calais is 'besieged by gangs of migrants': Fury of port chief as riot police are called in and France accuses Britain of being a soft touch. Daily Mail

·        At least 250 illegal immigrants attempted to board a ferry at the French port
·        Staff were forced to use a fire hose to stop the crowds pushing past them
·        Group pushed past machine gun-wielding police and climbed over fences
·        Eventually stopped as they ran up the ramp into the ferry's vehicle hold
·        Incident comes as Calais' mayor threatens to blockade the massive port
·        Natacha Bouchart is demanding Britain helps control immigrants
·        Deputy PM Nick Clegg condemns threat to cut 'umbilical cord' to Britain
 

Riot squads were sent into Calais last night after UK-bound migrants turned the French port into a ‘war zone’.

Anarchy broke out when 250 men burst into the town’s docks and tried to board vessels sailing for Dover.

One gang of marauders broke through gates and climbed over fences in a  desperate bid to reach a ferry.

Brushing off pursuing police officers, the migrants stopped only when the ship’s crew turned a fire hose on them and pulled up the car ramps.

The mayor of Calais last night begged David Cameron to come to Calais to tell the waiting hordes that Britain was ‘no El Dorado’. Natacha Bouchart said the UK was too soft on migrants.

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'We are outnumbered 285-1': Calais police admit they cannot prevent UK migrant surge, Daily Express

FRENCH police today admitted they were "powerless" to prevent thousands of migrants attempting to enter Britain illegally.

The border crisis is now so severe one officer shrugged, saying: "We are overstretched and there is not much we can do."

Experts estimate as many as 12,000 refugees make a bolt for Britain through Calais each year.

Today the Daily Express witnessed chaotic scenes as gangs of vagrants risked their lives attempting to jump on the back of moving freight trucks.

The migrant epidemic is now so bad officials believe at least 30 attempts to make it to the UK as stowaways every day.

The 2,000 who have congregated in the port town from a variety of countries including Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Ethiopia outnumber police by 285-to-one.

One exasperated officer said the blue line policing the perimeter of the port is so thin border guards are overrun by the migrant tide.

Giving the first detailed account from the front line of the fight, the unnamed officer aid: "There are just two or three patrols - just seven of us maximum - and hundreds of them trying to get to the UK. We are powerless to do anything.

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British security on alert as migrants aim to ‘live like a king’ in the UK, Daily Express

 More than 2,000 people are now crowded in, most of them ­desperate to reach the UK.

Meanwhile, the deputy mayor of the port wants the French border moved to Dover for one month – to make the British understand the sheer scale of the problem faced by his town every day.

There is such alarm at the growing numbers of migrants using ­Calais as a base to make a bolt across the Channel that a Home Office source said “physical security has been increased and beefed up”.

The tent city is home to those from countries including Syria, Sudan, Iran, Afghanistan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia.

Many fight to stow away on lorries bound for Britain each night. French officials say the town is overrun because the UK is a land where the penniless could “live like kings”.

The word about easy-to-obtain benefits and “paradise” conditions for migrant families has spread to the world’s poorest countries. It is estimated there have been 12,000 attempts to cross the UK border via Calais in the past year.

The lure of a new life across the Channel has seen families live in unimaginable squalor at the camp in woods near the port. Numbers are swelling by the day.

“Why is England so attractive for migrants? In their original countries people are saying that if you go to England you will have everything – a house, money, a job; your family will be able to join you. Right or wrong, it is what is said. They might leave with three pounds but, when they arrive in England they can make £50-a-week on the black market, so they are happy – they are kings.

“The bottleneck here is caused because England is too attractive, too easy. They have nothing to lose – except their lives.”

Inside the camp, men, women and malnourished children live on top of each other in tarpaulin tents with no running water.

The clamour for the front of the queue when the nightly scramble begins to sneak on to lorries bound for England means violent clashes often erupt.

Comment:

We need to secure our borders, and if people want to come and live here, they must be willing to work and integrate into society, rather than expecting a life of freebies

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Calais in crisis over UK-bound migrants: Tensions at boiling point as riot police prepare to move in on 'Jungle 2', the camp housing thousands desperate to make Britain their home . Daily Mail

  Court deadline for migrants to leave illegal camp expires this morning

  Water supplies at camp cut off and police move in to clear 1,000 migrants

  Migrants started camping at 'Jungle 2' near busy road three months ago

  Mayor of Calais calls for new Sangatte-style accommodation centre

  Original Red Cross camp at Sangatte was shut down in 2002

  Britain accepted some migrants in deal but others moved to makeshift camp

Calais was at crisis point last night as French riot police prepared to raze a camp of East African migrants desperate to make their way to Britain.

Police vans patrolled the town ahead of the imminent crackdown as a court deadline for migrants to leave the illegal camp known as Jungle 2 expired.

It comes as the mayor of Calais called for a new Sangatte-style accommodation centre to be built.

The original was closed in 2002 after triggering a British immigration crisis. 

Last night, tensions at the camp were at breaking point as water supplies were cut off and gendarmes prepared to move in to clear the 1,000 migrants living there.

Numbers have swollen in recent weeks as more and more people from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan make their way to the already crowded settlement and the surrounding countryside. 

But aid workers last night criticised the planned raids, insisting that closing the camp would not deal with the problem if no alternative solution was proposed.

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