‘We want to be safe’: Calais engulfed in tensions, locals & migrants feel threatened by ISIS

While the events in Paris were unfolding, tensions started to spiral in the northern port town of Calais: a blaze began at the refugee camp known as the Jungle that houses some 6,000 migrants. Many are worried this wasn’t just a coincidence.

Some residents are opting to move out rather than put their loved ones at risk. A local family with three children have recently left their home, a neighbor of theirs told RT’s Polly Boyko.

The man, who didn’t disclose his name, added that he thinks the events in Paris and Calais are parts of the same puzzle.

“The migrants talk a lot on the telephone, they are always communicating. They use the Wi-Fi nearby…I think it’s all connected,” he said.

Many in the northern town, which receives about 100 migrants daily, echo his concerns.

“It’s going to end in war. We will see the war. I think so! The migrants are becoming increasingly difficult. And we are getting more scared,” a local woman told RT.

“The riot police are here now, but if they leave, what’s going to happen? It’s always the same question, every day I ask myself, are we safe here?” she added.

Inside the camp, the situation is no better: people are becoming more and more suspicious of each other.

“We have people from about 20 countries here, how do I know which people are Daesh (Arabic term for Islamic State), and which ones are not? Really, we are so nervous now,” a man told RT.

Kurdish families, who live in the camp, said that if there were terrorists in the Jungle, peaceful people would flee for their lives.

“If Daesh people are here, we don’t want to stay here, maybe we will run away! We are going to leave the camp, because now the Kurdish people are fighting with Daesh. We want to be safe,” a man, who fought with the Peshmerga against Islamic State in Kurdistan, told RT through an interpreter.

“He says he is really worried about last night and what happened in Paris, and he is ready to die to remove all the Daesh in the world,” the interpreter said.

Fear is hanging in the air, and following the terror acts in Paris, many choose not to go out, or take any unnecessary risks.

“Normally Saturday night is our busiest. Now, it’s deserted! The people here are afraid. Because of the migrants here, and the situation in Paris,” a local barman told RT.

“What happened in Paris could happen here,” a man in the bar says, voicing the fears of many, both in Calais and in the migrant camp.