A huge fire has destroyed large areas of a migrant camp near Dunkirk in northern France.
The fire followed skirmishes that injured several people at the Grande-Synthe camp, also called the Liniere camp, which is located on the road between Dunkirk and Calais.
At least six migrants were wounded after scuffles and a knife fight which prompted riot police to intervene, which led to further clashes between security forces and between 100 and 150 migrants.
The fire tore through the closely-packed wooden huts of the camp, which houses between 1,000 and 1,500 migrants.
"There is nothing left but a heap of ashes," Michel Lalande, prefect of France's Nord region, told reporters at the scene as fire-fighters continued to battle the flames. "It will be impossible to put the huts back where they were before."
Most of the migrants are fleeing violence and hardship in North Africa and the Middle East. The camp's population has grown recently with a surge of arrivals from Afghanistan.
Last week, migrants from Grande-Synthe tried to block the nearby motorway with tree trunks and branches to try and stop the traffic and clamber onto the trucks and cars in the hope of crossing the English Channel.
