Calais Migrant Claims 'Right To Travel' To UK

A migrant at Calais has argued he has the right to come to the UK, comparing it to the freedom Britons have to visit foreign countries on holiday.

The Algerian man said he was not a terrorist but a human being "from this planet", whose wife and children lived in London.

And he blamed the past involvement of France in his own country and the British invasion of Iraq for contributing to the refugee problem.

The man was among the hundreds of migrants gathered at Calais trying to get through the Channel Tunnel and reach the UK.

Thousands have attempted already this week to make the crossing, leading to at least one death.

In the last month, nine people have been killed trying to make the hazardous journey, according to Eurotunnel.

Despite the dangers and tightened security, many remain determined to reach British shores.

The escalating crisis has caused travel chaos on either side of the Channel and led to calls for the Army to be sent in to tackle the emergency.

Prime Minister David Cameron, currently on a trade visit to South East Asia, has insisted Britain's borders are safe and that he "totally understands people's frustrations" at the disruption.

But speaking to Sky News in Calais, the Algerian migrant said he had "the right" to travel to the UK.

French colonialism had "finished" his country, while many migrants in Calais had fled from Iraq, which descended into bloody violence in the wake of the US and UK invasion in 2003.

The man said of Britain: "My family is there. I am not going to England for the money."

He added: "The way how you have English people travelling to Egypt, travelling to Syria, to Tunisia on holiday, I have the right to travel to London free.

"I don't want to go in the tunnel poor. I want to go legal.

"I'm from this planet, I'm not like coming from a different planet.

"I'm a poor man. I'm not terrorist, I'm not Daesh (another name for Islamic State), I'm not al Qaeda. I don't believe those stupid people.

"I'm Arab, I'm a human being."