A French court has rejected a new legal bid by Eurotunnel to shut down a refugee camp after more than 100 asylum seekers stormed the tunnel entrance at Christmas.
Eurotunnel resubmitted a request to the court in Lille for the Red Cross-run camp in Sangatte, close to the tunnel terminal, to be shut after the incident in which French police also stopped a separate group of 400 approaching the entrance.
The court saw video footage shot by Eurotunnel security cameras on the night of December 25th, which showed the asylum seekers trampling fences and tearing out barbed wire as a single police officer looked on.
The images later showed some 20 smugglers returning from the terminal. Four police officers are seen helping the smugglers cross the broken fencing and arresting the last four, allowing the others to escape.
Eurotunnel argued the images showed the French government was not adequately policing the tunnel entrance. The operator invested $3 million last year to bolster security on its site, where it employs 350 security guards.
Some 1,500 illegal immigrants are housed at the camp, mainly Afghans, Iranians and Iraqi and Turkish Kurds.
Eurotunnel had a previous request to close the camp rejected by the Lille court last September. The operator says repeated delays in Channel Tunnel traffic caused by the asylum seekers are hurting business.
Britain has requested France do more to stop refugees getting through the tunnel, but French officials have said the blames lies with Britain's relatively liberal asylum laws.