Ukip MEP Mike Hookem: Migrant threatened me with handgun near Dunkirk
A Ukip MEP has claimed a migrant threatened him with a handgun as he visited a camp on the outskirts of a French seaside town.
Mike Hookem, the party's defence spokesman, said his group were invited to access a woodland site near Dunkirk by migrants who were "milling around".
But he claimed the "situation immediately turned nasty" after another man at the camp appeared holding a handgun and stopped them from entering.
He said the incident left a woman in his group of five people "very frightened".
The MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire said he wanted to visit the camp to understand more about the migrants and their reasons for wanting to reach the UK.
He added he has spent the last couple of weeks looking in the area and travelled to Dunkirk to examine how people are trying to access the UK after security was tightened at Calais.
Mr Hookem said: "These people are realising they can get on ships at smaller ports that don't have the security of Calais.
"We're down at Dunkirk and we've been to a migrant camp just outside Dunkirk.
"I spoke to one or two migrants who were milling around and they invited us in. Another guy came out and the situation immediately turned nasty. He was telling us to eff off, eff off, get out and produced a handgun.
"We left quite quickly to get out of the area."
Asked where he believed the migrants were from, he said: "From what I could gather a lot of Iraqis, Iranians, Syrians, that area."
He added: "It's not a nice place to be and these are people who want to get into our country."
Mr Hookem said his group were not allowed into the camp.
He said he believed the camp was a five-minute trip from the centre of Dunkirk in a wooded area.
Asked to describe the camp, Mr Hookem said: "They never allowed us in. It's the usual camp. It's a mess, defecating in the woods, no running water."
Mr Hookem added: "I was trying to guard everyone else and get them out of there. It doesn't hit you until later on. The emphasis was to get out that area as quickly as possible."
