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Eurotunnel closes traffic as workers torch tires on tracks

Striking ferry workers burn tyres as they block a ramp leading into the Eurotunnel before being dispersed by riot police in Calais, northern France, Tuesday, June 23, 2015. A strike by workers in the northern French port of Calais has left all passenger ferry service between the city and the English city of Dover suspended and briefly slowed traffic in the Eurotunnel. (AP Photo) Striking ferry workers burn tyres as they block a ramp leading into the Eurotunnel before being dispersed by riot police in Calais, northern France, Tuesday, June 23, 2015. A strike by workers in the northern French port of Calais has left all passenger ferry service between the city and the English city of Dover suspended and briefly slowed traffic in the Eurotunnel. (AP Photo)

By Associated Press June 23, 2015 1 min read

PARIS (AP) – The tunnel linking France and England has closed after dozens of striking port workers swarmed the tracks and set fire to tires.

It was a day of chaos in the port city of Calais that began with a pre-dawn ferry strike. Truckers who diverted to the Eurotunnel freight line got snarled in traffic, and migrants hoping to reach England swarmed the vehicles, trying to sneak on board.

Video filmed near the entrance to the Eurotunnel showed migrants racing to catch a slow-moving truck.

Late Tuesday afternoon, strikers made it onto the tracks and Eurotunnel said the service was cut in both directions.

The union is protesting feared job cuts. Meanwhile, thousands of migrants are camped in Calais, hoping to make it to a better life in England.