Eurotunnel services suspended as French strikers burn tyres on rails
Train services have been suspended in both directions of the Channel Tunnel after protesting French ferry workers got onto the tracks of the line linking France and Britain and torched tyres, according to operators Eurotunnel.
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"We have been notified that protesters have gained access to rail tracks which means that for safety reasons Eurotunnel has to temporarily suspend their service," the firm said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.
Earlier in the day employees from the French company MyFerryLink blocked the entrance to the tunnel as part of their protest against plans by its parent company Eurotunnel to sell two of its three boats to Danish competitor, DFDS.
The protesters also backed up traffic for kilometres by sitting down on the A16 motorway.
Some of the migrants living in camps near the port, who use Calais as a jumping-off point to reach Britain, took advantage of the halted traffic to try to climb aboard vehicles.
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