French police watch as migrants board dinghies bound for the UK
French police shrugged and claimed that 'it's difficult' as they watched migrants boarding small boats to cross the Channel.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, reporters witnessed dozens of migrants, including children, wading out and boarding a dinghy already loaded with people after coming from an inland waterway.
Also watching from the beach in Gravelines, near Calais, were ten French police wearing riot helmets and shields, who were filmed standing by and not intervening.
When asked by Sky News why they did nothing, one officer said: 'It's for their safety. There are children there. We're not going to throw grenades at them. It's inhumane. But it's sad.'
Another shrugged and told The Sun: 'It's difficult.'
It is not the first time British media have captured French police standing by while small boats head for the UK, as the government continues to push for a change to French rules.
Once a boat is afloat in the water, it is not within the powers of the gendarmerie to intercept it and bring it back to shore, even if it is safe to do so.
In February Bruno Retailleau, the French interior minister, said that he wanted to give the gendarmerie new powers that would allow them to intercept boats within 300m of the coast.
Retailleau also said that he hoped to restore the offence of an 'illegal stay' in France, which would allow police to arrest migrants and smugglers before they attempt a crossing. At present, migrants are only considered to have committed an offence when they launch the boat.
The Home Office said earlier this month that it was still 'urging the French to make the necessary changes to their operational policy so their maritime forces can intervene in shallow waters as soon as possible'.
The French have instead begun a review into 'new operational tactics', although it is unclear what the outcome will be.
French police policy is only to intervene if there are enough officers present to safely control the situation.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
French officers raid importers of banned Algerian rival to Nutella
Customs agents in Marseilles were jubilant when they pried open a shipping container to find nine tonnes of contraband substance. The illicit goods were not, however, drugs or cigarettes, but 15,300 jars of sticky hazelnut spread. The port seizure in May was part of a campaign by the authorities to bar El Mordjene, a sweet Algerian spread that enjoyed explosive success last year thanks to a craze propelled by TikTok and Instagram. Across French cities, officers are raiding shops in areas with populations from the country's big 'Maghreb', or north African community, in a vain attempt to stamp out a black market in El Modjene. Despite seizures, such as a 200kg kilogram shipment confiscated in Argenteuil, a Paris suburb, in April, the supply continues, with jars selling under the counter and online for an average of €15, with some reaching €25. That is up to six times the price paid for the product in Algeria. The authorities banned the spread in September because it contains 12 per cent dried milk and Algeria has no agreement with the EU to import dairy products. Fans of the sweet spread, including many in Algeria, believe France has acted out of malice towards its former colony at a time of raised tensions and to protect Nutella, the Italian chocolate hazelnut spread. Ferrero, which produces the spread, has its biggest factory and market in France. 'The EU took action once the spread posed a threat to Nutella's market share, leading to rigorous testing and the establishment of stringent standards,' Mustapha Zebdi, the head of the Algerian Consumer Association, said. Lotfi Khammar, an official with the Federation of Algerian Exporters, said: 'Competition with Nutella was the real cause of the ban on the Algerian product entering France.' The El Modjene row has triggered claims of sinister motives from both sides of France's cultural divide. On social media, posts by Algerian-French people see another attempt by mainstream France to 'keep down' its Muslim immigrants. Some claim that the spread was banned because its logo features a woman wearing a veil. Right-wing commentators see the craze for El Modjene, which has a creamy flavour many liken to Ferrero's Kinder Bueno bars, as another symbol of a takeover of traditional white France by Muslims from the Maghreb. The Ferrero group has denied that it was involved, saying it 'refutes the reports about its supposed implication in the prohibition in France of any product'. Cebon, the company which has made El Modjene at its factory near the Algerian port city of Oran since 2021, is unhappy and bemused by the way it has been eliminated from the French market after freely importing the spread for three years. It points out that the illicit dairy product is French powdered milk. 'This is the limit because we have been exporting this product since 2021 and the powdered milk we use is bought in France and just processed in Algeria,' Amine Ouzlifi, the company's commercial director told le Parisien newspaper. The company has also promised legal action against imitators who exploited the raging demand for El Modjene by marketing taste-alike copies in France, some of them made in Turkey.
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Why can't ministers just tell us where they plan to house migrants once spending on hotels stops?
What trust? WHY can't ministers just tell us where they plan to house migrants once spending on hotels stops? Their only answer to the question is to repeatedly insist that the Government wants to deport those who have no right whatsoever to be here. 1 How can voters have any trust in that? In the year to March, just 6,339 people were forcibly returned. But more than 15,000 have arrived illegally by small boat already in 2025. Another 125,000 people are still waiting for decisons on their asylum claims. So in the unlikely event ministers find an immediate way of either stopping the boats entirely or sending migrants straight back to France, tens of thousands will have to be housed for years. The uncomfortable truth for the Government is that the vast majority will be shoved into rented accommodation — for several years to come. Blocks of flats filled largely with young, unemployed men. All living for free among families struggling to pay the bills. Surely even the Home Office can see this is not a recipe for community cohesion? Zero cheer PRESIDING over an economy as remorselessly sluggish as the UK's, it was perhaps unwise of the Chancellor to boast that Britain has enjoyed the fastest growth in the whole of the G7. Yesterday's GDP figures for April showing a 0.3 per cent fall mean we are now in danger of having the fastest SLOWING economy. Some of the mini-slump was caused by Donald Trump's insane tariffs. But the cost to businesses of the National Insurance rise on employers is now very real. It has cost jobs, while also squeezing wages and consumer spending. Next spring, bigger bills landing on the doorstep will include whacking great council tax. That is now set to rise at the fastest rate for 25 years. Far from fixing the foundations, the Chancellor's problems are again piling up. Awful April might just signal the start of an even worse year. Pray for them THE terrible scenes which unfolded during the Air India crash were, as the King said, desperately shocking. It is horrifying to think of so many loved ones gone in a few moments of appalling tragedy. Couples like Brits Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, who were just returning from a holiday of a lifetime. Yesterday was a day of overwhelming pain and grief.
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Hapless French cops get worse at preventing small boats from crossing Channel as they make mockery of £480m deal with UK
HAPLESS French cops are getting even worse at preventing small boats crossing the Channel — despite demanding more money from British taxpayers. Police in Calais are making a mockery of the current £480million deal with the UK by stopping a lower proportion of illegal migrants this year, shock figures show. 6 6 6 It comes the day after The Sun told how officers refused to get their feet wet as an asylum seeker family struggled in water trying to reach a dinghy off Gravelines. Analysis of Home Office data, which details how many migrants France claims to have prevented from making the journey, reveals the three-year cooperation agreement has changed nothing. Since May 2024, there have been only two months in which French cops have stopped more migrants than the number arriving in the UK — last August and this January. Our research also found that in March, for every migrant caught or made to turn back, 2.36 were picked up by the UK Border Force. During seven days in late April, 1,312 migrants arrived, yet only 303 were stopped — a ratio of more than four to one. Overall, three of the French police's five least effective weeks have come since the start of 2025. Former Tory security minister Sir John Hayes yesterday said: 'These figures reveal what most people suspected — the French are half-hearted about what we're paying for them to do. 'Frankly, they've got enough people and resources to puncture every dinghy before it sets off. They should be doing all they can to stop these boats launching, not just standing around.' Downing Street admitted there was 'more to do' in stopping small boat crossings. But defending the France deal, Sir Keir Starmer's spokesman said: 'We have a stronger relationship with the French government. Ever closer cooperation is already bearing fruit but we do know that we need to go further and faster.' France counts arrests, dinghy captures, and finds of smugglers' gear like boats and life vests as 'preventions'. Scores of migrants board overloaded dinghies to make dangerous Channel crossing to UK - as French cops watch on It is set to change the law to allow 'taxi boat' interceptions at sea — but could demand more cash for a new elite police squad. However, militant police unions are blocking the measure and are instead instructing members to adhere to current guidelines that mean officers must stand back as soon as dinghies are in the water. It costs £41,000 a year for the UK to house and feed each illegal immigrant in one of 210 hotels or other private accommodation. 6 6 6 Had France stopped as many people as had arrived this year, 2,905 fewer migrants would have entered Britain between January and the end of May. That would have saved taxpayers at least £119million. Last week, The Sun revealed Britain's annual bill to keep migrants in hotels and look after them totals £4.7billion. That is the equivalent of every penny of tax from 582,000 workers, or all the workers in Manchester. More than 15,000 people have crossed so far in 2025 — up 42 per cent on this time year. The Home Office was approached for comment. BOUNCE CHECKS By Martina Bet REFORM UK claims taxpayers' cash is being 'explosively' blown on council waste — including trampolining for asylum seekers. Zia Yusuf recently stepped down as the party's chairman but has returned to lead its newly launched 'Doge team' — inspired by Donald Trump's Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency in the US. He told TalkTV: 'Some explosive things we've found councils spending money on. You can try taking asylum seekers and illegal migrants trampolining as an example.' Mr Yusuf last month said Reform could take the Government to court to prevent migrants being housed in areas where it now controls the local councils. And asked if the party's policy was to house migrants in tents, Mr Yusuf told the BBC: 'That's what France does.'
