France will start stopping small boats in English Channel after British demands
France has agreed to begin intercepting migrant vessels in the Channel, after months of pressure from the United Kingdom.
This policy shift follows the British leader wrote to the French leader urging him to back the plan and stating there currently "lack any effective deterrent" in the Channel.
French security forces will be allowed to stop the small boats at sea, but only before they've collected their migrants, according to authoritative statements.
French police have infrequently acted to prevent the overcrowded boats leaving the coastline because it is viewed as excessively high a risk to both personnel and individuals.
"It is essential that we deploy these tactics this month... We have no effective prevention in the Channel."
Now, a French naval police spokesperson states officers will begin intervening at sea, with the aim of protecting lives.
Significantly, the spokesperson ruled out the use of nets to stop boats, which had previously been suggested as a possible method to disable the propellers of the vessels.
The decision to intervene at all is a major advancement, following a short-lived shift towards a more aggressive approach this summer, which dropped off when the former government official departed from office.
That was highlighted in July, in the run-up to a meeting between the UK leader and President, when French police were witnessed walking into the sea to damage the sides of a boat.
Currently French officials will once more be permitted to stop boats before they collect asylum-seeking individuals from the coastal areas of northern France, although it's not clear how the small boats will be stopped.
Powerful gusts are currently postponing the start of intervention operations and the human trafficking networks will be looking for ways to adjust to avoid interception, as they have frequently done in the past.
UK immigration authorities and the Prime Minister's office have been approached for comment.
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