Afghan, Kurd refugees fight at Red Cross

PARIS -- Riot police used tear gas to break up clashes between Afghan and Kurdish refugees that left 29 people injured at an overcrowded Red Cross center near the entrance to the Channel Tunnel, officials said Wednesday.

Two of the injured suffered serious knife wounds, a Red Cross official in Paris said.

Four people were arrested in connection with the incident at the Sangatte refugee center, according to police in nearby Calais.

It was the latest of several violent incidents at the Sangatte center, which shelters about 1,000 refugees, many using the center as a stepping stone to slip into Britain via the nearby Channel Tunnel linking the two countries. The center was meant to hold 650 people.

Fighting broke out Tuesday at the Sangatte center, just over a mile from the tunnel entrance to the Channel Tunnel, and lasted until early Wednesday, the Red Cross said.

According to the Red Cross in Paris, a quarrel started Tuesday when an Afghan touched a water faucet with his lips, upsetting the Kurds. By the afternoon, some 300 refugees from both communities, armed with metal bars used to support tents, were exchanging blows inside the camp.

Red Cross workers managed to separate the two sides four hours later, but a group of Kurds then left the camp, only to return in the evening armed with iron rods and knives.

"Some 150 Kurds wielding metal bars entered the complex through the back, breaking down fences, and major clashes broke out," said Carmen Toxe, a Red Cross spokeswoman in Paris.

Some 80 riot police were called in to break up the clashes. The Kurds spent what was left of the night outside the camp.

On Wednesday, there were 400 Afghans still inside the center, while some 400 others, including Kurds and Afghans, left to get away from the fighting.

The center has become a magnet for Afghans, Kurds and others hoping to slip through the tunnel to illegally enter Britain.

Eurotunnel, the French-British company that runs the tunnel, has hired scores of extra guards to keep refugees from gaining access to freight trains. It estimates that 18,500 refugees have been stopped from reaching Britain in the first half of the year.

Eurotunnel, the British-French company that runs the Channel tunnel, has tried unsuccessfully to get the camp closed.