Clowns entertain baffled Calais migrants bound for Britain – as new mega-dinghies take hundreds across the Channel

CLOWNS are entertaining queues of baffled migrants and suspected people smugglers preparing to cross the Channel and enter Britain. A dungaree-clad troupe of jugglers with red clown noses were spotted trying to lift spirits of over 2,500 people waiting at the Loon-Plage camp, on the outskirts of Calais. Clown, Laurence Quetel, seen entertaining migrants queuing at the Loon-Plage camp back in 2023 Credit: Peter Jordan The clown was seen performing for baffled migrants three years ago in France as several returned again this week Credit: Peter Jordan All of those currently stationed at the camp are reportedly awaiting passage to the UK. The clown performers were seen with red noses miming and marching around a group of the confused migrants waiting to be served lunch. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Just a few feet away Kurdish people-smugglers were huddled in tents planning their next batch of crossings, The Telegraph reports. Their latest tactic has seen 230 people packed tight onto 15-metre long “mega dinghies” for a single journey. Laurence Quetel is apart of a wider group of migrant entertainers near Calais who have been working for several years Credit: Peter Jordan Around 2,500 people live at the camp where the clowns have been entertaining migrants since 2023 Credit: Peter Jordan A record-breaking 230 migrants were on a ‘mega dinghy’ leaving French shores on Sunday Credit: Station SNSM Berck sur Mer/FACEBOOK UK Border Force boat brings migrants into Dover earlier this month Credit: Gary Stone One of the clowns, Laurence Quetel, 67, told the outlet how women and children are crammed into the middle of the vessels, which are not built to withstand the weight of too many passengers. Quetel said: “My first feeling was, I was happy that 230 people arrived in one batch without people dying… “The second [feeling] was s**t, how can they put them on there.” Criminal gangs control the squalid camp which is infested with rats and littered with rubbish. Most read in The Sun The camp has been divided with migrants and aid workers in one section and smugglers in the other. Violent turf wars have ripped through Loon-Plage, as rival Kurdish and Afghan gangs vie for control. The bitter dispute has resulted in three deaths since June 2025, including a man in his 30s who was shot seven times. A woman and a two-year-old child were also left wounded after another shooting rocked the encampment. Tents at the Loon-Plage migrant camp Credit: Gary Stone Migrants seen walking from one camp to another at the Loon-Plage complex Credit: Gary Stone Migrants say they are terrified of the “mega dinghies”, branding the vessels “too dangerous” and “crazy”. Ali Faraj, a 22-year-old chef from Kurdistan, who has been at the camp for a month told the outlet: “I wouldn’t go, this is not good, they don’t care about life, they don’t care. “I would go on a smaller boat but not like 200 people, maybe they [the passengers] will push you off.” The migrant crisis has come into sharp focus after a record-breaking 230 passengers reached the UK on one “mega-dinghy” on Sunday. It was later confirmed 260 migrants had been crammed onto the “mega-dinghy” as it left French shores. But 30 were flung into the Channel as the flimsy vessel, designed to carry a maximum of 40 people, was battered by choppy waters. The record-breaking 230 figure smashes the record for the most migrants on one boat — beating the 165 total set just last month. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp declared it a “full-blown Burnham borders crisis” as arrivals in the PM’s first 22 days reached 3,003. As the numbers continue to soar, the under-fire Prime Minister has promised to “change tactics” to tackle the gangs behind the crossings. Comment now