French police sources said on Monday that one migrant was shot and killed at a migrant camp at Loon Plage, outside the town of Dunkirk, on Sunday (June 15). The shooting came a day after gunfire killed another man in the same area on Saturday (June 14) and left five others wounded, reported the French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP).

The migrant who was shot on Sunday is reportedly a 24-year-old Sudanese man. Around 1,500 people are present at the makeshift camp at Loon Plage, according to police. The victim was hit by a bullet in the head, reported the French newspaper La Nouvelle Republique. The news group is described as being "center-right" in orientation.

Police sources also told AFP that all those who were victims of Saturday’s shooting were Sudanese nationals, and that one of those injured is reported to be a child (described as a baby by AFP), and another a woman. The Nouvelle Republique news group added that on Saturday, one of those injured had also been hit by a bullet in the head, and another was injured in the legs as they attempted to flee.

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Nine milimeter bullet casings found, two arrests

Casings from bullets measuring 9 millimeters were discovered at the scene of Saturday’s shooting, said police sources.

French authorities already made two arrests in connection with the shooting on Saturday. A 29-year-old man who claimed to be from Iraq and a 16-year-old who said he was from Afghanistan, the public prosecutor’s office told AFP.

The prosecutor’s office told AFP that an investigation into murder and attempted murder by an organized gang has been opened.

Tensions increase in the area

Salomé, a member of Utopia 56, an organization that works with migrants across northern France and is based in the area of Grande-Synthe, site of another big migrant camp outside Dunkirk, told InfoMigrants that there had been "a lot of tensions in the area. These intensified in the last two or three weeks."

Salomé said that the tensions had worsened because of the authorities' attempt to clear out the camps each week, and so more and more people were ending up at the camp at Loon Plage. Salomé estimates between 1,500 to 2,000 people compared to around 1,000 through the winter. A similar estimate was offered by another group that works on the ground with migrants in the area, Salam.

"The tensions are also caused by the trafficking gangs. You can’t say that all the migrants there are causing these tensions. But everything that is happening there, all this violence is also a consequence of the migration policies being carried out at the border," she explained.

In Salomé’s opinion, "if there were more dignified conditions for these people, there wouldn’t be so much violence." Utopia 56 criticized the fact that after the first round of shootings, "there was no psychological support offered, and the migrants there are really scared, and they don’t really know what is happening."

Utopia 56 said that even by Monday, the most vulnerable migrants in the camp had not been offered any kind of alternative shelter and had just been left there to fend for themselves.

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Crossings continue

On Friday, more than 900 people (919) migrants crossed the Channel and landed in the UK in 14 small boats.

Since the beginning of this year, at least 15 people have died at sea while attempting to reach the UK, confirmed French authorities. In 2024, more than 78 migrants died while attempting the crossing. French authorities said on Saturday (June 14) that they had rescued almost 100 people who had attempted to cross the Channel on Friday and Saturday.

According to British government sources, last updated on June 14, 134 people successfully reached Britain on Saturday in two small boats. On June 12, 52 reached the UK coasts in one small boat, and the day before, on June 11, 400 made it across in six small boats.

Since the beginning of the year until June 14, 16,317 migrants have crossed the Channel from northern France to the UK. Last year, by the end of June, 13,489 migrants had crossed the Channel in a similar time frame, so this year’s numbers have already surpassed that by several thousand.

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UK Prime Minister reportedly will ask the French to do more

The British right-wing tabloid newspaper, The Daily Mail, one of the most-read online news sites, reported that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was "forced to beg" French President Emmanuel Macro "to do more to stop the boats."

The two leaders are due to meet at the G7 meeting in Canada this week. The Mail underlines that although the French authorities have been paid around 562 million euros "in recent years" to try and stop migrants from crossing from the French coast, there have been numerous pictures of French authorities seemingly standing on the beach as migrants board and set to sea.

Recently, it was reported that the British were going to ask the French to try and stop the boats from departing while still in shallow waters. However, previously it has been argued that any attempt to do so could lead to potential deaths or injuries as migrants try and board the overloaded boats further and further from the shore to try and avoid police intervention.

When asked by journalists about the situation on his way to Canada, Starmer said, reported the Daily Mail: "One of the things we’ve worked hard at is improving the relations with the French in relation to the work we both need to do to stop these boat crossings, which I’m determined we will absolutely bear down on."

Starmer added that he believed, "we are seeing a much greater cooperation in northern France -- I want to see more cooperation in northern France, and it’s an issue that I have raised and will raise again with President Macron."

Starmer confirmed that he would also be discussing migration with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.