Latest news with #FrenchPolice
The Guardian
7 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
French plans to stop small boats will lead to more deaths, says charity
Plans by French police to enter the sea to stop small boats carrying UK-bound asylum seekers willcause more deaths and will be challenged in the European courts, a French charity has said. Arthur Dos Santos, the coordinator of the refugee charity Utopia 56, said there would be an increase in the number of people who would take 'desperate' measures to reach the UK. The official, based in Calais, said the charity was examining the possibility of a legal challenge in the European courts to stop the tactics. Government sources have told the Guardian that French police would be authorised to tackle boats within 300 metres of the shore and in nearby waterways. The strategy aims to be ready in time for the Franco-British summit, which begins on 8 July. This coincides with the state visit to London of Emmanuel Macron, the French president. Over the past few days, French police have waded into the sea to stop asylum seekers from boarding boats, increasing speculation that police are already using the tactic. In one incident this week at Gravelines beach near Dunkirk, officers were shown waist deep in water, using CS gas, riot shields and batons, as they attempted to force a boat to return to the beach. Dos Santos said the French plan to harden its tactics against asylum-seekers and smugglers would result in more deaths. 'When police enter the sea, it will cause more deaths, more people will drown as they try to get away before being caught and forced back to the beach. There will be more violence, as some people fight back, and the people attempting to reach England will find other ways to try to get to the UK. This will not stop them, but it will make the crossings much more dangerous,' he said. The scheme is intended to give the French authorities the power to halt dinghies that 'taxi' up to beaches from nearby waterways. Until now, guidelines prevent French police from intervening offshore unless it is to rescue passengers in distress. In practice, the policy means officers can stop boats leaving the beach by puncturing them, but are restricted once they are in the water. Dos Santos said the tactic would face legal challenges in the European courts, with lawyers examining human rights laws and the UN convention on the law of the sea. 'This policy will be taken to the European courts. We will look very closely at this, as will other organisations,' he said. A British charity that operates in France told the Guardian two weeks ago it planed to explore possible legal challenges to stop the tactic. Steve Smith, the chief executive of Care4Calais, said: 'When the last Tory government tried to do pushbacks in the Channel, Care4Calais initiated a legal challenge and won. Any attempt to introduce interceptions in French waters must face the same level of resistance.'
Telegraph
a day ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
People smugglers deploy new tactics to evade French police
People smugglers are using lorries to transport migrants to beaches in an attempt to outwit French border police and gendarmes. The gangs are putting dozens of migrants into the lorries along with a dinghy so that they can avoid detection by police spotters, drones and night-vision cameras when they are driven to the beaches for launch. Police and gendarmes have previously been able to track the migrants as they walked to the beach to hide in the dunes ready for the arrival of 'taxi boats', which are brought from further down the coast or inland rivers and waterways. The new tactics come ahead of plans by the French interior ministry for officers from the elite Compagnie de Marche to intercept the 'taxi boats' at sea. The strategy is expected to be ready in time for the Anglo-French summit in London starting on July 8. Until now, the French have refused to intervene in the water because they claim maritime laws prevent them from taking action that could put lives at sea at risk. Hidden in plain sight There have also been instances of gangs driving the dinghies to the shore by car before dumping the vehicle. It is thought this tactic reduces the chance of the boat being intercepted and punctured it before it can get into the sea. On Tuesday morning, smugglers drove a Volvo estate on to the beach with a dinghy strapped to its roof, which was swiftly taken off and launched into the sea. French police also discovered a dinghy buried in the sand. A source close to the French border force's strategic planning said: 'This week we failed to stop a departure that took us by surprise at Etaples, because it's apparently a new modus operandi that has been put in place; this involves delivering migrants in trucks with boats inside, so they are brought directly to the beach and the operation is carried out very, very quickly. 'So this time, unlike last time, we were unable to intercept the truck, which escaped our surveillance. We didn't detect it, so they departed from Étaples. There were around 30 migrants. They were taking water so it's far from sure whether they managed to cross.' 'We've had trucks with huge numbers of migrants inside, arriving at the last minute from far away. We can't stop all the trucks driving around there either. So this allows them to escape our vigilance.' Some 17,278 migrants have arrived so far this year, up 40 per cent on last year and the highest to this point in the year since the first arrivals in 2018. The source said the forecasts for crossings were 'favourable' through to at least Friday. 'Unfortunately, the smugglers have the same forecast as us, so we know what to expect,' they said. 'It has nothing to do with the weather; it's all about conditions at sea. The reason that we have seen more crossings and attempted crossings this year is that there have been more such windows of opportunity.' The source said the aim was to stop two thirds of the boats, although figures released last month suggested the number of migrants being stopped had fallen to fewer than 40 per cent. They added that the French were adapting their tactics to tackle the 'taxi boats', but said the length of the coastline and inland waterways from which they could be launched was so immense that it was difficult to cover. 'Faced with this situation, we are further adapting our measures, but it requires a lot of men and equipment as we have to follow migrant groups to check for nearby taxi boat,' they said. 'We can't just patrol the waterways; a boat can be hidden in the forest and arriving discreetly along the coast. Traffickers have understood that once a boat is in the water, we don't intervene under current maritime law.'
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
French authorities finally promise to intercept small boats in the Channel as shocking figures reveal one migrant reaches Britain every four-and-a-half minutes
French authorities have finally promised to intercept small boats in Channel waters as figures reveal a migrant reached Britain every four-and-a-half minutes last week. A new 'maritime doctrine' set to come into operation next month allows French police officers to block dinghy departures within 300 yards of the shoreline. Currently, they are barred from intercepting any boat once it is in the water. But gendarmes have expressed concerns over their safety when the new policy comes into force. The new rules will be introduced after Channel migrants reaching the UK topped 2,000 in a week for the first time in 21 months, following 489 arrivals on Tuesday. The 2,222 arrivals over seven days meant an average of one migrant reached Britain every four-and-a-half minutes. Police unions are understood to have concerns their members may be required to enter the water wearing 'Kevlar' body armour, which can weigh up to 6lbs and would put them at risk of drowning. Sources said French officers had also raised concerns about being unable to carry firearms if they are required to go into the sea, because salt water would damage the weapons. However, French police colonel Olivier Alary said that his teams 'will be able to do more' once the 300-yard rule comes into force. 'If the rules change to allow us to intervene against these taxi boats, as close as possible to the shore, then we'll be able... to be more effective,' he told the BBC. Marc Musiol, of the police union Unity, said: 'I can understand an average British person watching this on television might say, 'Damn, those police don't want to intervene.' But it's not like that. 'Imagine people on a boat panic and we end up with children drowning. The police officer who intervened would end up in a French court.' He added: 'It's a complicated business, but we can't fence off the entire coastline. It's not the Second World War.' Last week's crossing total was the most since September 2023, when the former Tory government's Rwanda policy was still in legal limbo. It tipped the total since Labour came to power at last July's general election past the 40,000 mark, hitting 40,276. Since the start of this year, 17,034 migrants have reached Britain, up 38 per cent on the same period last year. The figure does not include hundreds more who reached Dover yesterday. Reform leader Nigel Farage said it was 'about time' Britain faced up to the fact it was 'our fault' – rather than France's – that so many migrants head here. 'We will never stop the boats from leaving France,' he told broadcaster Talk. 'They'd need 10,000 soldiers on the beaches to stop every boat from going. The reason they're coming isn't the French's fault, the reason they're coming – it's our fault. It's about time we faced up to that.' His remarks echoed comments from French politicians over recent years which blamed Britain's asylum system, as well as inadequate checks on illegal working, for making this country an 'El Dorado' for illegal migrants. In a new development, people-smuggling gangs have begun delivering inflated dinghies to the shore tied to car roofs rather than inflating them on French beaches, in a bid to reduce the risk of detection by police. It demonstrates how traffickers are constantly evolving their methods. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer cancelled the Tories' Rwanda asylum scheme – which was designed to deter crossings and save lives – as one of his first acts in office. Instead, Labour vowed that investment in law enforcement would solve the crisis. But migrant numbers are soaring and Downing Street this week admitted the situation was 'deteriorating'. A government source said last night: 'Any new tactics to prevent these criminals from facilitating these dangerous journeys are always welcome.' And a Home Office source pointed out: 'On exactly the same days in 2023, 2,375 people arrived – or one every 4.2 minutes – when Rishi Sunak was PM and Robert Jenrick was immigration minister.'
Times
2 days ago
- Times
Smugglers find new ways to circumvent French police
People smugglers appear to be changing their tactics in response to a more aggressive approach by French police by driving dinghies to the shore and dumping the car. Over the course of the past two years, smugglers have increasingly pursued a so-called 'taxi boat' strategy whereby they use France's inland waterways to drive the dinghies before cruising along the coast to pick up migrants who are told to wade into the water to be picked up. This was to circumvent police patrols on the beaches, which used high-tech radar equipment provided by the British to detect boats hidden in the dunes along the coast. Smugglers would inflate the dinghies on the morning of the launches as migrants waited to board but after a 2023 deal with Rishi Sunak's government that significantly improved their detection equipment and led to two thirds of boats being stopped by the French police, the smugglers switched to the taxi boat model.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Smugglers deploy 'taxi boats' to collect migrants off the French coast
As the weather in the Channel clears, the French police are struggling to halt a potentially record-breaking surge of people from reaching the UK in small boats organised by a growing network of smuggling gangs. Downing Street said on Tuesday the situation was "deteriorating."Although the French authorities claim they're now intercepting more than two thirds of those boats before they reach the sea, the smugglers are now changing tactics to launch so-called "taxi boats" from new sites, in new ways, and with ever greater of inflating their boats in the dunes along the coast, close to police patrols, the gangs are launching them from better hidden locations, often dozens of kilometres from the main departure beaches. They then cruise along the coastline, like taxis or buses, picking up their paying customers who now wait in the sea, out of reach of the police. Just before sunrise, last Friday, we encountered a group of perhaps 80 people gathered in calm, waist-deep water, off a beach near the village of Wissant, south of Calais. There were several women and children in the group, from countries including Eritrea and counted eighteen French gendarmes watching them from the shore, declining to inflatable taxi boat, operated by a smuggling gang, had just arrived by sea and now circled repeatedly. Over the course of perhaps ten minutes, one man sitting at the front of the boat appeared to usher people forwards, to clamber onboard in relatively organised, even orderly, children clung, occasionally crying, to their relatives' shoulders."Yes, to England," one Afghan man told me, patiently waiting his turn, his eyes focused firmly on the taxi boat system appears to give the smugglers a little more control over what has often been a chaotic, and dangerous process, involving large crowds dragging boats to the water and then scrambling onboard. A little over a year ago, I watched the result on a nearby beach when about a hundred migrants tried to pile onto the same boat. Five people, including a seven-year-old girl, were trampled or suffocated to death. On Friday morning, Colonel Olivier Alary stood, dry-footed, watching the taxi boat load up. He explained that the current operational rules for his forces were clear. They would intervene to rescue someone if they were about to drown. They might even attempt to stop the boat if it became trapped on a sandbank. But it was simply too risky, for all involved, for the police to try to reach the boat now it was afloat."The police will be able to do more… if the rules governing our actions at sea are changed," said Alary, referring to the French government's declared intention to revise those rules, possibly in the coming weeks, to give the police more leeway."It's essential that we don't create panic and endanger these people further. If the rules change to allow us to intervene against these taxi boats, as close as possible to the shore, then we'll be able… to be more effective," said Alary, as the fully loaded boat finally set off north-westwards, towards the English coast. Although some officers say there is already some wiggle-room for the police in terms of how strictly they interpret the existing rules, many are fearful that they might face serious legal trouble."I can understand an average British person watching this on television might say, 'Damn, those police don't want to intervene.' But it's not like that. Imagine people on a boat panic and we end up with children drowning. The police officer who intervened would end up in a French court. It's a complicated business, but we can't fence off the entire coastline. It's not the Second World War," said Marc Musiol, of the police union, Unity."If we don't have the orders, we don't move. Even if there's one centimetre of water, we don't intervene. It's frustrating," said his union colleague, Marc Alegrè.As a result, the French forces, now patrolling more than 120km (75 miles) of coastline in northern France, focus all their attention on trying to intercept the smugglers' boats before they while that interception rate is rising, the smugglers are changing their own tactics fast. We'd first joined Colonel Alary and his men soon after midnight on Friday. It was the fourth full night our team had spent on the beaches in recent weeks. Alary's unit was busy using infra-red drones, paid for by the British government, to spot and track several hundred migrants who'd gathered in smaller groups along the coast, having arrived by bus and on foot over the course of Thursday afternoon and evening. On a monitor, we could clearly see one group, gathered around a makeshift campfire in a forest near the beach."But it's the smugglers we're after. If we move towards the migrants now, they'll just disperse," said at around five in the morning, to the visible frustration of the police, reports came in of a successful taxi boat launch further up the coast."Let's go," said arrived, some minutes later, at a shingle beach beside the old fishing village of Audresselles, just south of Cap Gris-Nez. A black Volvo V50, doors open, was stuck fast, up to its axles in car had clearly been driven at high speed, across the main road and straight towards the sea. "They're adapting, again," said Colonel Olivier Alary, inspecting the black cords that the smuggling gang had used to tie a large inflatable boat, precariously, to the Volvo's smugglers had evidently inflated the boat in a shed or farm building close by, then driven it the short distance to the beach, untied it, dragged it the last few metres to the water, and were safely on their way within a matter of seconds, heading north to collect their paying passengers from other points along the coast much like bus or a taxi – hence the "taxi boat" nickname."This is the third time it's happened in this area," grumbled Alary, of an emerging new tactic used by the smugglers. The police, armed with night-vision binoculars and drones, have become skilled at spotting the moment the smugglers start to inflate their rubber boats. This normally happens in the dunes and forests on the coast or beside rivers and canals. It is a period of maximum vulnerability for the gangs and their clients. Using up to six electric pumps per boat, the smugglers can often finish the job in less than fifteen minutes. But the inflated boats are large, unwieldy, and hard to move by police often have time to intercept the inflatables before they're dragged towards the water, usually by a dozen or more people. Officers, sometimes using pepper spray and stun grenades to clear a path, then slash the boats with knives to render them unusable. The BBC has seen police body-cam footage showing people hurling rocks at officers and even holding a young child in front of the police to try to stop to the French police, the gangs – which we understand are now growing in number in the Calais area as demand for crossings increases – have not only begun inflating their boats in secrecy, hidden in buildings close to the beaches, but have threatened local farmers who have objected to their some of these taxi boat launches – designed to exploit the French police's unwillingness to intervene at sea – take place close to the main migrant departure areas around Calais and Boulogne, some boats are now setting off from much further Friday morning, Alary told us, there had just been a successful taxi boat launch from Cayeux-Sur-Mer, a village about 100 kilometres south beyond the river Somme. He anticipated that it would arrive here around noon and start trying to pick up passengers near Boulogne. One unintended consequence of the smuggler's growing dependence on the taxi boat system is that it gives young men an advantage over women and children, who often struggle to climb onboard from the sea."I've tried [to cross] twelve times now," said Luna, a Somali woman from Mogadishu. She described incidents of police violence on the beaches and the experience of being left behind while men clambered onto the boats."Sometimes the police are very violent. I've been hit myself. They put tear gas – something in the air – you can't breathe. Sometimes the boat is very far [out to sea]. That's why women and children are left behind so many times. It's so dangerous, so risky. We cannot swim. I don't want to die," Luna said, as she waited for a meal at an informal migrant camp near Dunkirk. She added that after one and a half months trying to complete the journey to the UK, she had no plans to quit. Meanwhile, having failed to stop the taxi boat launch on the shingle beach at Audresselles, Colonel Alary was not yet ready to give up either."Let's go. The boat is going north towards Cap Griz Nez. We're going to try to intercept them," he said, as his team rushed towards their we followed the police, we could see the boat – a thin black smudge on a milky sea – to our left. But by the time we'd got to Wissant, 15 minutes later, it was already too late. The migrants were in the water, and the taxi boat was already half in all, it had not been a good night for the French police. Alary's forces claimed four successful interceptions on land. But along the whole coast, a total of 14 boats had made it to sea, carrying 919 people to the UK. Later that morning, on a brief trip to sea on a police patrol boat, Colonel Alary reflected on the battle to stop the smugglers. There were so many challenges – from the heavy equipment worn by police which made it dangerous for them to enter the water safely, to the inherent instability of the inflatable boats, which made them too vulnerable to stop at sea without risk of Alary said the UK itself held the key to solving this crisis."It should be kept in mind that 30% of all the migrants entering the European Union end up here, in the Calais area. They travel from all over Europe to come here… because the United Kingdom is attracting them. England is attractive. It encourages migrants to want to join it. The solution is to make England less attractive, then people would remain [at home or in the EU]."That belief - in the UK's magnetic pull for migrants – remains the conventional wisdom among both French officials and many of those risking their lives to cross the Channel. On a much windier day last week, on a beach beside an old Bourbon-era fort in the village of Ambleteuse, I met a former fisherman, Stéphane Pinto, who is now the local mayor."For migrants, the UK is still seen as an El Dorado. The British need to address this issue more forcefully," he said. If it didn't, Pinto warned of growing violence between police, local communities, and a rising wave of migration from an increasingly troubled world."This is no longer just a problem linked to dictatorship or war. It is growing due to what's happening globally: climate change, the collapse of economies in some countries, and so on. We feel there is a new wave growing today, and unless we really tackle it, we will sadly only be spectators of what will happen in the coming years."
