FRENCH KURDS HEADING HERE

FRANCE today released 911 Kurdish asylum seekers - and many of them are now expected to head for Britain.

The refugees, who were rescued from a beached freighter on the Cote d'Azur at the weekend after the crew fled, are likely to attempt to enter this country by sneaking aboard ferries or through the Channel Tunnel. They say they have been told they will receive "much better treatment in Britain".

France had the powers to keep the band of immigrants, including 480 children, in detention for 20 days while their asylum claims were considered.

They were due to have attended a court session in Draguignan today but instead they have been released from a holding camp near Cannes and issued with "safe conduct" papers to protect them from arrest. When news of their release was announced, one immigrant Funda Kutlay told French television: "France is nice but it is difficult to get permission to stay here. We hear we will be treated much better in Britain."

The astonishing decision by the French comes days after Eurotunnel warned it needed government help to stem the tide of asylum seekers smuggling themselves aboard its trains to Britain.

A Calais frontier police spokesman said today: "We already have thousands of refugees trying to breach security at the ferry and shuttle terminals.

This is the last thing we need.

Our resources are badly stretched and we do not want another 900 arriving to join them."

The asylum seekers must make applications to remain in France within eight days or face deportation. But they have ample time to make a train journey to Calais where they can go to a Red Cross refugee hostel overlooking the English Channel in San-gatte.

A spokesman at the hostel said: "If they come here, we will give them food and shelter, just as we do to all immigrants."

The decision to free the Kurds was welcomed by human rights organisations and by former president Francois Mitterand's widow Danielle, a campaigner for the Kurdish cause who has visited the Cannes detention centre, where the Kurds staged a sit-down protest demanding hot meals and a swift release so they could have their claims heard while at liberty.

Most however know that French judges reject three quarters of all asylum applications, making France an unfavoured destination for migrants and traffickers.

The French interior ministry rejected accusations the immigrants had been released with any covert hope they might simply disappear from France.

A spokesman said: "They have been asked to stay in the area and told our social services will attend to their accommodation needs while their asylum claims are heard."

But asked if the immigrants could be prevented from leaving the south to travel to Calais, the spokesman admitted: "No, they can't."

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