French authorities to begin stopping migrant vessels in Channel after British demands
France has agreed to begin intercepting small boats in the Channel, after months of pressure from the United Kingdom.
This policy shift follows the Prime Minister wrote to the French leader asking him to support the initiative and stating there currently "have no effective deterrent" in the maritime passage.
French security forces will be allowed to stop the small boats at sea, but only before they've collected their passengers, according to official confirmation.
French authorities have infrequently acted to prevent the overcrowded boats leaving the shoreline because it is considered excessively high a risk to both personnel and individuals.
"It is essential that we implement these methods this month... We have zero effective deterrent in the Channel."
Now, a French naval police representative says officers will start intervening at sea, with the aim of protecting human life.
Significantly, the spokesperson excluded the use of entanglement devices to stop boats, which had previously been reported as a potential technique to disable the propellers of the boats.
The decision to take action at all is a significant step forward, following a short-lived change towards a more aggressive strategy this summer, which dropped off when the former government official left office.
This was demonstrated in July, in the run-up to a meeting between the UK leader and President, when authorities were witnessed walking into the sea to slash the hulls of a boat.
Now French officials will once more be permitted to stop boats before they collect asylum-seeking passengers from the beaches of northern France, however it's uncertain how the small boats will be stopped.
Strong winds are presently postponing the start of intervention operations and the people-smuggling gangs will be looking for methods to adjust to avoid interception, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.
UK immigration authorities and Downing Street have been approached for comment.
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