French riot police use pepper spray to stop African migrants attempting to cross into France
Hundreds of people tried to cross from Italy, including men, women and children
MIGRATING men, women and children in their hundreds desperately tried to move through a blockade of riot police to get into France.
The vast crowd of Eritreans, Ethiopians and Sudanese were met with pepper spray and police in full riot gear, as they attempted to get over the French border from Italy.
Some people in the group can be seen to hold up white towels and wave them at the police, but the forces stand their ground in dramatic footage taken at the Italian border town of Ventimiglia.
About 150 migrants walked to the shore shortly after midnight on Thursday, where they remained for hours before heading for France.
More than 100 people did manage to get through the police blockade, despite attempts to deter them.
Those who did not make it through the line of riot police tried to get round into France by sea - getting swept into the rocky shore.
The people who managed to cross the border stopped on rocks near the port at the French Riviera town of Menton.
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Ventimiglia police commander Giorgio Marenco said they were under surveillance of French police.
He said: "Both the Italian and French forces at the border were taken by surprise."
Many of the hundreds of migrants who arrive by boat in Italy every day aim for northern Europe.
Ventimiglia hosted a temporary migrant camp last year, but this was cleared away by police.
Most of the more than 94,000 people who have arrived in Italy by boat this year have travelled from war torn countries, often in unsafe conditions and at risk to their lives.
"The migrants who have reached Ventimiglia over the past three years have one aim: to pass into France," Marenco added.
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