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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Joe Golder, Agency: Newsflash
Footage has emerged showing details of how migrants ambushed a lorry driver’s vehicle in the French port city of Calais as he tries to reach the United Kingdom.
The footage follows pictures shared by British lorry driver boss Ed Rogers who owns E.M. Rogers Transport and told a similar tale in what appears to be the same incident, and which generated international headlines.
The footage was shared online in a Facebook group called “Romanian lorry driver”, the moderator of which told Newsflash in an exclusive interview: “The French authorities are doing nothing to stop the migrants, who are destroying the trucks of those who are transporting goods from France to England through Calais. They are unable to ensure the safety of highways, although it is not a free public road, it costs a lot of transit.” (sic)
While it is currently unclear if it was the same group of migrants who attacked both lorry drivers during the same incident, the footage was also shot on the motorway very near the Calais port last Friday night.
The Romanian lorry driver, named as Bouda Petrica by local French news outlet Nord Littoral, was reportedly trapped after over 100 migrants set up a roadblock and filmed the whole incident in a series of videos he posted online.
The footage shows the lorry stopped on the motorway while numerous pedestrians surround it. Some people can be seen lingering near the lorry door while others advance towards the filming lorry driver.
He tries to overtake the stopped lorry but a pedestrian stands in front of him apparently carrying rocks in either hand.
A second man puts his hand up, splaying his fingers, indicating that the driver should stop. Then the footage shows another lorry overtaking and heading down the motorway, forcing the pedestrians to get out of the way.
The lorry then stops a bit further on and Nord Littoral report that footage shows pedestrians opening the lorry doors which are full of boxes before slipping inside, although this could not be confirmed at the time of writing.
The same French news source reports that two riot police groups were mobilised in Calais but it is currently unclear if any arrests have been made.
Romanian media outlet Observator News, meanwhile, has reported that the lorry driver was attempting to reach the United Kingdom.
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