A fire has destroyed large swathes of the Grande-Synthe migrant camp near Dunkirk in northern France following skirmishes that injured several people earlier in the evening.
At least six migrants were wounded after scuffles and a knife fight which prompted riot police to intervene. That led to further clashes between security forces and between 100 and 150 migrants.
One of the injured migrants was knocked over by a car on a highway outside the camp and was in a critical condition, police said. Three other migrants had stab wounds.
The fire broke out later on Monday evening and tore through the wooden huts of the camp, which houses between 1000 and 1500 migrants, many of them Kurds, according to humanitarian groups.
Grande-Synthe, also called the Liniere camp, is on the road between Dunkirk and Calais. Most of the migrants are fleeing violence and hardship in North Africa and the Middle East. Its population has grown recently with a surge of arrivals from Afghanistan.
