Shocking moment TWO 50ft inflatable dinghies are loaded up with 40 people each on a beach in northern France and pushed towards Britain by people smugglers - as 100 migrants cross Channel today without a French police officer in sight
This is the moment two 50ft long inflatable dinghies were loaded with up to 40 migrants each on a beach in northern France this morning before being pushed towards Britain by people smugglers.
While French police completely failed to spot the departure, journalists did - filming the migrants as they manhandled the inflatables down from the cliff tops to reach the sea from two remote beaches south of Calais.
Around 100 migrants are understood to have crossed the Channel by boat today in what is set to be another busy day of arrivals thanks in part to good visibility at sea.
A total of 1,185 people crossed the Channel last Thursday, eclipsing the previous daily high of 853. Yesterday around 40 arrived. There have been more than 20,000 crossings this year, with the UK accusing Paris of failing to do enough to stop them.
At dawn today, dog walkers and a jogger watched in amazement as the two separate groups, who had been hiding overnight in the sand dunes, ran to the water's edge with their giant boats.
People smuggling minders waded knee deep in the sea as the migrants clambered aboard for the perilous voyage across the English channel.
A migrant bound for the UK told MailOnline that people traffickers don't travel to the UK on dinghies themselves.
They provide the boat and the lifejackets and take the migrants to the beach to wait for the moment to launch the boat.
Wading in the water up to their knees, the smugglers then help the migrants onto the boat and show them how the engine works before pushing them off the shore towards the UK.
It came as French riots cops today began clearing out the Grande-Synthe camp where 1,500 migrants were staying as they tried to get across the Channel into the UK.
Thirty police vans filled with officers from the French national reserve police were on-site this morning as migrants - including women and young children - packed up their belongings and were taken away.
Migrants will be taken to nearby 'centres' so their asylum cases can be assessed and given accommodation in sports halls and other public buildings, local media said. It is unclear how many will be allowed to remain in Europe.
The police operation came just hours after Mr Darmanin spoke with British counterpart Priti Patel migrant crossings in the Channel, which have hit record levels in recent days despite commitments from both sides to reduce them to zero.
Exhausted migrants were seen being carried onto Dungeness Beach today after being taken ashore on an RNLI lifeboat.
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Today, MailOnline witnessed at least boats full of migrants slipping away from two remote and near deserted beaches south of Calais
The migrants who had sent the night hiding in sand dunes were seen manhandling two huge 50ft long black inflatables down cliff tops to reach the sea
There were cheers and whoops from one boat as they started their Yamaha outboard engine and headed out into the surf, intent on a new life in the UK
A loaded boat - with people smugglers pushing it from behind - heading into a choppy Channel towards Britain this morning
Migrants wearing life jackets waiting for the departure from a near-deserted beach near Calais at dawn today
Around 40 migrants were brought ashore at Dungeness today by an RNLI lifeboat. They included two exhausted women who had to be carried ashore. It is unclear if this was the same group pictured leaving France this morning
The woman was seen lying on the shingle before being helped up and walked further up the beach
French riot cops moved in to dismantle the tent encampment this morning. It has been home to some 1,500 migrants hoping the reach Britain
Around 1,500 migrants, most of whom were hoping to make the journey to the UK, have now been taken away to asylum centres so their claims can be assessedToday there were cheers and whoops from one boat as they started their Yamaha outboard engine and headed out into the surf, intent on a new life in the UK.
Most of the two groups were seen wearing bright orange life jackets although a few did not have any buoyancy aids as they left from the beaches near the seaside town of Wimereux
Home Office spent £7,000 on 700 Domino's pizzas for migrants in just TWO DAYS
By Harry Howard for MailOnline
A Dover branch of fast food chain Domino's was forced to close last week after Border Force officers ordered hundreds of pizzas to feed migrants who had crossed the Channel.
Officials are said to have bought around 700 pizzas over the course of two days at a cost of more than £7,000. This figure was more than the agency spent on pizza for migrants in the whole of July.
According to The Times, Border Force said they had to order emergency food supplies after being 'completely overwhelmed' by the record number of crossings from France last week.
Nearly 4,000 migrants arrived in the first 11 days of November - more than double the figure that the Home Office had expected.
Discarded pizza boxes
The incredible scenes unfolded without a single police officer being seen anywhere in the area, despite the French authorities having pledged to crack down on migrant boats.
The boats set sail after a MailOnline reporter witnessed lifejackets being openly handed out at a makeshift migrant camp in Grand Synthe near Dunkirk.
Groups of men were seen arriving with bags crammed full of the brand new bright orange life jackets as charities gave out free food and medication on Monday afternoon.
Later several groups of migrants were seen waiting at a nearby bus stop opposite an Auchan superstore, carrying their life jackets in bags.
A migrant from one group who said he was an Iraqi Kurd told MailOnline: 'We are all Arabs.
'Some of us are from Syria. We just want to get to the UK.'
Asked about the prospect of the dangerous Channel crossing, he shrugged his shoulders and added: 'Of course we are going to cross the sea, but we don't know when it is going to happen.
'We have been given our jackets and we are waiting for instructions.
'We don't know if it will be tonight?'.
The migrant said he had arrived in Grand Synthe after being smuggled in lorries from Turkey, but he refused to say how much he had paid people smugglers.
He added: 'The conditions in the camp here are filthy. We have only been here five days and I cannot wait to leave.'
Members of the group were seen intently looking at their mobile phones while apparently waiting to be told where to go as they waited for one of the Dunkirk area's free local buses.
Scores of migrants were seen arriving on Monday evening in Wimereux around 40 miles south of Grand Synthe, and walking through the town centre towards the beach.
Some had huge backpacks stuffed with their meagre possessions, and apparently hiding their lifejackets.
It is believed that they headed off on clifftop path to the beaches just north of the town where they were able to wait on the sand dunes, hidden by bushes and vegetation.
A MailOnline reporter heard the excited chatter of a migrant group on the beach in the darkness at La Pointe Aux Oies around two miles from Wimereux at 6.15am today.
The voices including those of children gradually got fainter as the group were seen heading off towards the
Three suspected people smugglers flee after helping the migrants set sail at dawn today on a beach near Calais
The pair were talking to a man in a lifejacket. MailOnline witnessed lifejackets being openly handed out at a makeshift migrant camp in Grand Synthe near Dunkirk
A migrant bound for the UK told us that people traffickers don't travel to the UK on dinghies themselves. They provide the boat and the lifejackets and take the migrants to the beach to wait for the moment to launch the boat
The Channel crossing is incredibly dangerous, and anyone attempting it risks hypothermia, as well as drowning
A man appears to collapse while being helped ashore by fellow migrants at Dungeness this afternoon
Around 15 minutes later a group of three or four men were seen heading back up the beach towards the dunes, suggesting that they had successfully launched the boat.
Shadowy figures were seen returning to the beach around 30 minutes later and briefly heading off towards the sea and then walking back as if they were checking the conditions.
At least two men stayed on the beach, and was seen periodically walking back up to the dunes as dawn slowly broke just after 8am.
A huge group of migrants suddenly appeared around half an hour later. carrying their fully inflated outsize boat down the clifftop through the dunes.
They dashed across the sand with the boat before boarding it in near perfect conditions as the waves gently lapped around them.
Members of the group said they were all Iraqi Kurds and one claimed to have been stuck in France for seven years before they headed off into the busy shipping lanes.
Minders who had escorted the boat to the sea were seen running back up the beach as the outboard spluttered into life and the vessel headed off into the early morning mist.
At around the same time, a MailOnline photographer witnessed another 50ft long black inflatable boat being carried down the neighbouring beach at Fort d'Ambleteuse by a group of around 50 migrants.
Shouting was heard as most of the group clambered on board until the boat seemed to be at full capacity.
A small group of around ten people including a child remained on the beach, possibly to avoid overcrowding the boat.
A man dressed in blue shorts and wearing a visor cap and a top with luminous sleeves appeared to give instructions to those still on the beach.
It also looked like he was checking the bindings of their lifejackets, suggesting perhaps that they could get a place on the next boat.
French police have moved in to clear out a huge migrant camp dubbed New Jungle that had built up in the commune of Grande-Synthe, near Dunkirk
French cops watch on as the makeshift camp in Grande-Synthe, Dunkirk, is cleared on November 16
Mask-wearing officers in blue protective outfits joined riot cops as they dismantled the squalid encampment this morning
The two beaches are divided by a rocky outcrop although they are joined by paths at the top of the cliffs.
MailOnline found the wreckage of what appeared to be a deflated inflatable on the rocks, suggesting that an earlier voyage had come to grief.
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