Amazing shots show how infamous Calais camp has become a ‘festival site’ housing 10,000 migrants

AMAZING aerial pictures reveal how Calais migrant camp the Jungle now resembles a festival site.

Tents and shacks spread as far as the eye can see after the camp’s population is thought to have doubled to 10,000.

But despite the squalid conditions there is a booming micro-economy with shops, restaurants, churches, mosques and a boxing gym.

Two music halls and a nightclub have also sprung up.

The crisis has sparked a row after French politicians demanded part of the camp become UK territory so migrants waiting to cross the Channel can claim British asylum.

President Francois Hollande is even facing demands to move the camps to Britain

Last night Prime Minister Theresa May slapped down calls from her own backbenchers for a tougher deal.

Downing Street insisted the existing arrangements which allow UK border checks in the French port were “working well”.

The PM’s official spokesman said: “Our view is the Le Touquet agreement works and we are committed to it. The issue of the Jungle is a matter for the French”.

But Charlie Elphicke, the Tory MP for Dover, called on Britain and France to “dismantle” the camp.

He said: “The swelling of numbers, migrant landings on British beaches and nightly attacks on lorries underlines the need for more action.”

Home Secretary Amber Rudd and her French counterpart, Bernard Cazeneuve, met for crisis talks in Paris yesterday.

In a statement they said: “We are committed to working together to strengthen the security of our shared border, to strongly diminish the migratory pressure in Calais and preserve the vital economic link supported by juxtaposed controls.”

Despite pledges by the French authorities to demolish the site and limit numbers to 2,000, the camp has mushroomed in months as migrants desperate to reach Britain pour in every day.

Many of the latest arrivals are from the Horn of Africa, including Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Aid charity Help Refugees said earlier this month there were 9,106 migrants in the Jungle.

But a spokesman said it “strongly suspects the population total in the next census will be above 10,000”.

That would be enough to fill League Two Colchester United’s stadium, where the capacity is 10,105. The charity believes there are up to 500 new arrivals a week.

Around 1,500 live in shipping containers provided by the local authorities, while others have built wooden huts.

Police have tried to ban building materials from the site but new arrivals simply crowd into tents sleeping 20 at a time.

French police say the Jungle is now a lawless “no-go zone”.

A huge brawl broke out between 200 African and Afghan migrants last month. A 37-year-old Ethiopian man was stabbed to death and six were left badly injured.

There have been 11 migrant deaths in Calais this year, including seven people hit by a car or truck.

Up to 1,000 migrants gather each night on a nearby motorway as they attempt to board lorries heading for the UK.

Meanwhile, it has emerged France is sending fewer migrants back to their home countries than are arriving each day.

Authorities have started a campaign to inform migrants they can claim asylum in France and many want to remain.

But most are stuck in the Jungle for months while their applications are processed.

The delays mean only around 30 migrants a day leave on buses provided by immigration officials — far fewer than the 50 to 80 arriving.

There are now an estimated 761 children living there, including 608 unaccompanied by an adult.

There have been a string of refugee camps around Calais since 1999, but the Jungle emerged last April.

It initially comprised of tents on sand dunes, but grew rapidly as more migrants arrived at the former landfill site two miles from the ferry port.

The French authorities originally planned a “tolerated” Jungle with just basic services.

Hot meals were provided by welfare charities every day, a huge improvement on nine camps nearby.

However the site is now fitted with showers, toilets and electricity.

In January officials opened up 125 shipping containers, including bunk beds, as makeshift accommodation. They can house up to 1,500 people.

A court order was obtained in February to evict almost 1,000 refugees from the southern side of the camp after it became overrun.

In March and April huge swathes of the site, then home to around 6,000 migrants, were bulldozed.

Around 40 people, including five aid workers, were injured during a fight in May.

Of the 10,000 living in the camp more than 35 per cent are from Afghanistan, and around the same number are from the Sudan.

Eritreans make up eight per cent and 7.5 per cent are from Pakistan.