France to begin intercepting small boats in English Channel after UK pressure
French officials have consented to begin stopping migrant vessels in the Channel, after an extended period of insistence from the United Kingdom.
This policy shift follows the British leader wrote to the French leader asking him to back the plan and stating there currently "have no effective deterrent" in the Channel.
French security forces will be allowed to stop the migrant vessels at sea, but exclusively prior to they've collected their migrants, according to authoritative confirmation.
French police have infrequently acted to prevent the overcrowded boats departing from the coastline because it is viewed as too great a danger to both personnel and civilians.
"It is essential that we deploy these methods this month... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel waters."
Now, a French maritime police spokesperson states personnel will begin intervening at sea, with the aim of protecting lives.
Significantly, the official ruled out the use of nets to intercept boats, which had earlier been reported as a potential method to disable the propellers of the vessels.
The decision to intervene at all is a major step forward, coming after a brief change towards a more aggressive approach this summer, which dropped off when the former government official left government.
This was demonstrated in July, preceding a summit between the UK leader and French president, when authorities were observed walking into the sea to damage the hulls of a vessel.
Currently French authorities will once more be permitted to intercept boats before they collect asylum-seeking individuals from the beaches of northern France, however it's not clear how the small boats will be stopped.
Strong winds are presently postponing the commencement of interceptions and the human trafficking gangs will be looking for ways to adapt to evade detection, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.
UK immigration authorities and the Prime Minister's office have been approached for response.
Connected Developments
- Reasons Britain can't just send back migrants to French territory
- French government backing away from commitment to intercept migrant boats
UK immigration
Channel crossings
Border security
