Thirty forlorn-looking migrants stood on the deck of French navy warship Flamant as she sailed proudly into Calais yesterday morning.
They had just been stopped in a dinghy by the warship two miles off the north French coast while heading towards Britain across the Channel.
When the disappointed group of Iranians and Iraqis came down the gangplank on to French soil, they were met by waiting gendarmerie who took them off for fingerprinting at a secure centre on a hill above the port.
Patrol: Migrants are brought back to port on the Flamant after being picked up in Channel
The arrival in Calais of the Flamant with its human cargo was a first very public display of the French doing what Britain wants: halting the flow of migrants heading the 21 miles across the narrow stretch of sea for a new life in the UK.
At the time the warship came into berth, 20 miles along the coast in Dunkirk another display of Gallic co-operation with Britain was under way.
The last remnants of a giant camp, emptied of migrants’ bell tents by French police on Tuesday, were being totally destroyed so no one can ever return to live there again.
The notorious camp had become a base for thousands of migrants waiting to sail to the UK. It was run by people traffickers using guns to maintain order as they organised boat places for up to £6,000 a head.
In a military-style operation, officers in white hazmat suits moved in at nine with bulldozers and fork-lift trucks to remove the mountains of rubbish – ranging from supermarket trolleys to babies’ cots – left behind by the 1,500 camp residents.
A police tractor was then brought in to plough up the land where the camp once stood so it is impossible for migrants to set up tents there if they try to return.
Meanwhile, impromptu settlements set up by the migrants in the nearby forest 1,600 yards away were also evacuated by police and sealed off yesterday.
Migrants climbed up tall trees to escape police raids. They ran further into the forest dragging chairs, bed pallets, mattresses, gas bottles and even life jackets (to use for a future boat crossing) to hide.
In the mayhem, many hundreds, including mothers with small babies, were left standing on the Dunkirk roadside with no idea where to go next.
Disembarking: They return to Calais watched by police
There were pitiful sights of entire families pushing their possessions in shopping
