For years, residents of Grand-Fort-Philippe in the north of France lived a life largely undisturbed by migrants who attempted crossings from their local beaches.
Relations were cordial even.
Many in the town would exchange polite bonjours with the men, women and children biding their time in the small seaside town located between Calais and Dunkirk until weather conditions turned in their favour.
The migrants kept largely to themselves, and many locals took pity on the plight of the exiled who were fleeing war - and political, religious and sexual persecution.
But in the last few months, something has shifted.
Clashes between migrants and police have erupted, moving from the beaches about a mile out, and into residential areas.
The once-peaceful town of about 5,200 people is now host to an “urban guerilla warfare” pitting tear gas and shields against stones and pebbles - and triggering travel warnings for British tourists.
Caught in the middle are the locals, whose property has become collateral damage, and whose daily lives have been upended.
“Between us and the migrants, there’s no problem,” said Yvon Agez, a retiree who has lived his whole life in Grand-Fort-Philippe. “They pass by, we exchange hellos, and that’s that.”
He added: “Now that police are preventing them from leaving it’s become war, a war between police and migrants. If the police would just let them cross, there’d be no problem.”
The push by French police is part of a wider effort to confront migrants and people smugglers up and down the coast in close co-operation with Britain, which signed a multi-million-pound security deal to “stop the boats”.
Migrants driven away from the beaches now look to towns like Grand-Fort-Philippe, with canals and rivers where they can launch boats away from the new surveillance and security systems along the coast.
A new “Jungle” camp has even sprung up on the outskirts of the town near Dunkirk, where many migrants sleep in tents until they can negotiate a space in a dinghy supplied by the network of people smugglers.
Police reinforcements were finally called into Grand-Fort-Philippe earlier this month after pleas from local mayors. But in true French style, the authorities were heavy-handed, triggering the round of violence that has angered locals.