French cops with riot shields FINALLY launch bid to stop overloaded migrant boat… only to retreat & watch it sail away
Ed Southgate in Gravelines
Julia Atherley
Sam Creed
Published: Invalid Date,
HEAVY handed French police finally went into the sea to try to stop migrants getting onto a dinghy - but the small boats were still left dangerously overcrowded after the officers retreated.
Riot officers dramatically threatened migrants with batons and pepper sprayed them in waist-high water during shocking scenes at Gravelines beach - near Dunkirk - in the early hours of this morning.
12
12
Harrowing babies ' cries and screams rang out from the water as their parents carrying them refused to leave.
Smugglers were caught off-guard when the French authorities, who have famously kept to dry land, started wading into the cold water.
But 15 minutes later, riot cops were called back out of the water and watched on as the same group of migrants boarded the waiting dinghy.
The Sun watched as Smugglers and migrants initially tried to fight back against the police, shouting at them, pushing them and splashing water at them.
Then they tried moving along the coast, rather than towards land, to escape the cops and wait for the small boat, and the group slowly dispersed into smaller groups with cops pursuing them.
Families began shouting at each other to come back when some moved towards the shore.
The dinghy had arrived already with some migrants on, confirming theories that smugglers are now operating boats like a bus route picking people up at various spots.
Tear gas grenades were thrown on land as the second group ran around, with smoke completely covering the miles-long beach in scenes comparable to a war zone.
This is believed to be one of the first times French police have ever gone into the water.
They have repeatedly refused to get their feet wet, claiming it is dangerous and legally complex.
New maritime rules allowing cops to intervene at sea have not come into force yet.
It has created accusations of officers just wanting to "put on a show" after being exposed in the press, while continuing to fail to stop any dinghies.
The first group entered Gravelines beach from the sand dunes at around 4.50am.
They walked with pace along the beach before eventually running towards the sea with a very large number of young children and babies.
People smugglers were yelling at them, directing them what to do and where to go while no police were on the beach.
Parents adjusted their childrens' life jackets as the group of around 50 migrants stood at the edge of the sea.
One dad's one-year-old son was crying as he asked for help adjusting the baby's ill-fitting life jacket, which heartbreakingly appeared to be choking him.
The dad said he was terrified for his baby ahead of the journey, but insisted they were fleeing war and needed to go to Britain.
12
12
12
12
People smugglers were shouting at the group and aggressively threw sand at the onlooking media.
They stayed at the edge of the water until around 5.15am, when around 40 police officers finally emerged from the sand dunes and began marching the three quarters of a mile towards the sea.
The migrants were then instructed by smugglers to enter the cold water, which they believed would give them protection against the officers who famously have never been in the sea.
At least six riot officers marched into the sea towards the group of migrants and aggressively banged their riot shield with batons as they shouted at the group to go back.
It led to a stand-off, with the group refusing to budge. One officer then lunged towards the group and pushed them with his shield, causing them to almost fall.
The officers then continued to push them as screams were heard from the group, and they then used pepper spray against them.
Parents, carrying their children on their shoulders or in their arms, were among those remaining firm in the water.
Other sporadic moments of jostling and pushing between police and migrants continued during the 15 minute standoff.
But the police were then called back as tear gas grenades were thrown on the sand as a second group appeared on the beach.
It meant the migrants a dinghy could approach the group that the cops had failed to remove from the sea.
The Sun then watched as they struggled to get on the already-overcrowded dinghy.
Children were hoisted up as adults struggled in the sea.
Meanwhile on the beach, hundreds more migrants were running around in a cat and mouse game with the police as they also tried to get to a second boat that was further down the coast.
Officers threw a line of tear gas grenades to try to stop them from getting near to the sea.
But migrants still managed to get to that boat.
Smugglers appear to always bring more migrants than can fit on the boat, to make sure they are as full as possible.
It meant there was a large group that were left on the beach after the boats had gone.
But this was because there was no more room on the boats, not because the police had stopped them.
It comes after The Sun watched on Wednesday morning as police stood idly by on land while migrants almost drowned trying to get onto a boat.
But around two hours later today, some miles east in Dunkirk, another group of migrants boarded a small boat as officers continued to look on from the shore.
12
12
12
12
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
US military parade has global counterparts in democracies, monarchies and totalitarian regimes
The military parade to mark the Army's 250th anniversary and its convergence with President Donald Trump 's 79th birthday are combining to create a peacetime outlier in U.S. history. Yet it still reflects global traditions that serve a range of political and cultural purposes. Variations on the theme have surfaced among longtime NATO allies in Europe, one-party and authoritarian states and history's darkest regimes. France: Bastille Day and Trump's idée inspirée The oldest democratic ally of the U.S. holds a military parade each July 14 to commemorate one of the seminal moments of the French Revolution. It inspired — or at least stoked — Trump's idea for a Washington version. On July 14, 1789, French insurgents stormed the Bastille, which housed prisoners of Louis XVI's government. Revolutionaries commenced a Fête de la Fédération as a day of national unity and pride the following year, even with the First French Republic still more than two years from being established. The Bastille Day parade has rolled annually since 1880. Now, it proceeds down an iconic Parisian route, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. It passes the Arc de Triomphe — a memorial with tributes to the French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars and World War I — and eventually in front of the French president, government ministers and invited foreign guests. Trump attended in 2017, early in his first presidency, as U.S. troops marched as guests. The spectacle left him openly envious. 'It was one of the greatest parades I've ever seen,' Trump told French President Emanuel Macron. 'It was military might, and I think a tremendous thing for France and for the spirit of France. We're going to have to try and top it.' The British set modern ceremonial standards In the United Kingdom, King Charles III serves as ceremonial (though not practical) head of U.K. armed forces. Unlike in France and the U.S., where elected presidents wear civilian dress even at military events, Charles dons elaborate dress uniforms — medals, sash, sword, sometimes even a bearskin hat and chin strap. He does it most famously at Trooping the Colour, a parade and troop inspection to mark the British monarch's official birthday, regardless of their actual birthdate. (The U.S. Army has said it has no specific plans to recognize Trump's birthday on Saturday.) In 2023, Charles' first full year as king, he rode on horseback to inspect 1,400 representatives of the most prestigious U.K. regiments. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, used a carriage over the last three decades of her 70-year reign. The British trace Trooping the Colour back to King Charles II, who reigned from 1660-1685. It became an annual event under King George III, described in the American colonists' Declaration of Independence as a figure of 'absolute Despotism (and) Tyranny.' Authoritarians flaunt military assets Grandiose military pomp is common under modern authoritarians, especially those who have seized power via coups. It sometimes serves as a show of force meant to ward off would-be challengers — and to seek legitimacy and respect from other countries. Cuba's Fidel Castro, who wore military garb routinely, held parades to commemorate the revolution he led on Dec. 2, 1959. In 2017, then-President Raúl Castro refashioned the event into a Fidel tribute shortly after his brother's death. Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, known as 'Comandante Chávez,' presided over frequent parades until his 2013 death. His successor, Nicolás Maduro, has worn military dress at similar events. North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un, who famously bonded with Trump in a 2018 summit, used a 2023 military parade to show off his daughter and potential successor, along with pieces of his isolated country's nuclear arsenal. The event in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square — named for Kim's grandfather — marked the North Korean Army's 75th birthday. Kim watched from a viewing stand as missiles other weaponry moved by and goose-stepping soldiers marched past him chanting, 'Defend with your life, Paektu Bloodline' — referring to the Kim family's biological ancestry. In China, Beijing's one-party government stages its National Day Parade every 10 years to project civic unity and military might. The most recent events, held in 2009 and 2019, involved trucks carrying nuclear missiles designed to evade U.S. defenses, as well as other weaponry. Legions of troops, along with those hard assets, streamed past President Xi Jinping and other leaders gathered in Tiananmen Square in 2019 as spectators waved Chinese flags and fighter jets flew above. Earlier this spring, Xi joined Russian President Vladimir Putin — another strongman leader Trump has occasionally praised — in Moscow's Red Square for the annual 'Victory Day' parade. The May 9 event commemorates the Soviet Union's role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II — a global conflict in which China and the Soviet Union, despite not being democracies, joined the Allied Powers in fighting the Axis Powers led by Germany and Japan. A birthday parade for Hitler Large civic-military displays were, of course, a feature in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy before and during World War II. Chilling footage of such events lives on as a reminder of the dangers of authoritarian extremism. Among those frequent occasions: a parade capping Germany's multiday observance of Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday in 1939. (Some far-right extremists in Europe still mark the anniversary of Hitler's birth.) The four-hour march through Berlin on April 20, 1939, included more than 40,000 personnel across the Army, Navy, Luftwaffe (Air Force) and Schutzstaffel (commonly known as the 'SS.') Hundreds of thousands of spectators lined the streets. The Führer's invited guests numbered 20,000. On a street-level platform, Hitler was front and center. Alone.
Times
3 hours ago
- Times
Why Rosie O'Donnell fled to Dublin after Trump feud
'No one ever invited me to a sex party. Not that they're sitting home going, 'Well, my choice for the sex party is Rosie O'Donnell.'' O'Donnell, 63, is settling into her new life in Ireland. The actress, stand-up comedian and former talk show host has bought a house in Dublin and is waiting for her Irish citizenship to be approved. The star tells The Sunday Times how she once lived next door in Florida to Sean 'Diddy' Combs, the rap mogul on trial in the US over charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. The trial has pushed the music mogul's infamous 'freak-off' parties into the spotlight, with witnesses divulging graphic details of the alleged sex and drug-fuelled parties.
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
School killings leave stunned Austria and France searching for answers
Two shocking attacks within two hours of each other, in France and Austria, have left parents and governments reeling and at a loss how to protect school students from random, deadly about 08:15 on Tuesday, a 14-year-old boy from an ordinary family in Nogent, eastern France, drew out a kitchen knife during a school bag check and fatally stabbed a school long afterwards in south-east Austria, a 21-year-old who had dropped out of school three years earlier, walked into Dreierschützengasse high school in Graz at 09:43, and shot dead nine students and a teacher with a Glock 19 handgun and a sawn-off both countries there is a demand for solutions and for a greater focus on young people who resort to such has never seen a school attack on this scale, but the French stabbing took place during a government programme aimed at tackling the growth in knife crime. Austrians ask about gun laws and a failed system The Graz shooter, named by Austrian media as Arthur A, has been described by police as a very introverted person, who had retreated to the virtual "great passion" was online first-person shooter games, and he had social contacts with other gamers over the internet, according to Michael Lohnegger, the criminal investigation chief in Styria, the state where it happened.A former student at the Dreierschützengasse school, Arthur A had failed to complete his at the school, he put on a headset and shooting glasses, before going on a deadly seven-minute shooting spree. He then killed himself in a school owned the two guns legally, had passed a psychological test to own a licence and had several sessions of weapons training earlier this year at a Graz shooting has sparked a big debate in Austria about whether its gun laws need to be tightened – and about the level of care available for troubled young has emerged that the shooter was rejected from the country's compulsory military service in July ministry spokesman Michael Bauer told the BBC that Arthur A was found to be "psychologically unfit" for service after he underwent tests. But he said Austria's legal system prevented the army from passing on the results of such are now calls for that law to be changed. Alex, the mother of a 17-year-old boy who survived the shooting, told the BBC that more should have been done to prevent people like Arthur A from dropping out of school in the first place."We know… that when people shoot each other like this, it's mostly when they feel alone and drop out and be outside. And we don't know how to get them back in, into society, into the groups, into their peer groups," she said."We, as grown-ups, have got the responsibility for that, and we have to take it now."President Alexander Van der Bellen raised the possibility of tightening Austria's gun laws, on a visit to Graz after the attack: "If we come to the conclusion that Austria's gun laws need to be changed to ensure greater safety, then we will do so."Austria has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, with an estimated 30 firearms per 100 there have been school shootings here before, they have been far smaller and involved far fewer mayor of Graz, Elke Kahr, believes no private person should be able to have weapons at all. "Weapons licences are issued too quickly," she told Austria's ORF TV. "Only the police should carry weapons, not private individuals."What we know about Austria school shootingGraz in shock and grief after attack French focus on mental health as well as security Armed gendarmes were present at the entrance to the Françoise Dolto middle school in Nogent, 100km (62 miles) east of Paris, when a teenager pulled out a 20cm kitchen knife and repeatedly stabbed Mélanie G, who was 31 and had a four-year-old boy accused of carrying out the murder told police that he had been reprimanded on Friday by another school assistant for kissing his girlfriend. As a result he had a grudge against school assistants in general, and apparently had made up his mind to kill one. Schools were closed on Monday for a bank holiday, and Tuesday was his first day state prosecutor's initial assessment was that the boy, called Quentin, came from a normal functioning family, and had no criminal or mental health record. However, the child also appeared detached and emotionless. Adept at violent video games, he showed a "fascination with death" and an "absence of reference-points relating to the value of human life". The Nogent attack does not fit the template of anti-social youth crime or gang violence seen in France until is there any suggestion of indoctrination over social to the prosecutor, the boy did little of that. He had been violent on two occasions against fellow pupils, and was suspended for a day each time. There is no family breakdown or deprivation and school officials described him as "sociable, a pretty good student, well-integrated into the life of the establishment".This year he had even been named the class "ambassador" on all the calls for greater security at schools, this crime took place literally under the noses of armed gendarmes. As Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau put it, some crimes will happen no matter how many police you more information on the boy's state of mind, we must wait for the full psychologist's report, and it may well be that there were signs missed, or there are family details we do not yet know the face of it, he is perhaps more a middle-class loner, and his apparent normality suggests a crime triggered by internalised mental processes, rather than by peer-driven association or emulation. That is what strikes the chord in France. If an ordinary boy can turn out like this from watching too many violent videos, then who is next?Significantly, the French government had only just approved showing the British Netflix series Adolescence as an aid in schools. There are differences, of course. The boy arrested for the killing of a teenage girl in the TV series yields to evil "toxic male" influences on social media – but there is the same question of teenagers being made vulnerable by isolation the political spectrum, there are calls for action but little agreement on what should be the priority, nor hope that anything can make much the killing, President Emmanuel Macron had angered the right by saying they were too obsessed with crime, and not sufficiently interested in other issues like the environment. The Nogent attack put him on the back foot, and he has repeated his pledge to ban social media to under there are two difficulties. One is the practicality of the measure, which in theory is being dealt with by the EU but is succumbing to endless procrastination. The other is that, according to the prosecutor, the boy was not especially interested in social media. It was violent video games that were his Minister François Bayrou has said that sales of knives to under-15s will be banned. But the boy took his from home. Bayrou says airport-style metal-detectors should be tested at schools, but most heads are populist right wants tougher sentences for teenagers carrying knives, and the exclusion of disruptive pupils from regular classes. But the boy in Nogent was not a problem the only measure everyone says is needed is more provision of school doctors, nurses and psychologists in order to detect early signs of pupils going off the of course will require a lot of money, which is another thing France does not have a lot of.
