On a French beach, migrants with children sprint towards overcrowded boats
GRAVELINES: As the sun rose over a beach in northern France, migrant men, women and children in orange lifejackets sped along the sand towards the sea under the gaze of French police.
Some managed to wade through the water to a dinghy bound for England, but others -- deeply disappointed -- plodded back into the dunes behind the beach.
At least 15 people have died trying to cross the Channel to Britain so far this year, after a record 78 lost their lives attempting the sea crossing last year.
Migrants have in recent days been making the most of fair weather to attempt the trip.
British authorities said that, on Friday, 919 people landed on its shore after crossing the Channel in 14 small boats.
The following day, 134 new migrants arrived, despite a storm warning having been issued for the previous night.
As the sun rose over the Gravelines beach on Monday morning, a first group of migrants waited in the water for a boat that never came.
They gave up and walked back to the dunes as police officers looked on from various spots along the beach, the towers of a nearby nuclear power plant looming in the background.
Cloud of tear gas
At the same moment a large group of men, women and children -- most wearing bright orange life jackets -- leapt out from the dunes and rushed forward towards the sea.
Police officers fired tear gas, but the migrants emerged from the cloud of bitter smoke and jumped back behind more grass-covered dunes further along the beach.
A drone buzzed in the sky, while a plane from European border agency Frontex flew overhead.
France and Britain have vowed to crack down on people-smugglers who often charge thousands of euros (dollars) for migrants to cross to England, often on overloaded and unseaworthy boats.
To avoid French authorities stopping them on land, smugglers have in recent years increasingly operated so-called "taxi-boats", pulling up into choppy shallow waters and forcing their passengers to wade in to make it on board.
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