Latest news with #gendarmerie
Times
2 days ago
- General
- Times
Why can't French police go into the Channel to arrest migrants?
The images have become all too familiar. On Saturday, French police stood on the shore watching as dozens of migrants, including young children, crammed on to a dinghy a few hundred metres off the coast. It has happened often, and in some cases migrants have drowned in front of the watching gendarmes. While it appears unfathomable, the refusal of the police to intervene is ultimately a matter of French rules. The UK is pushing for those rules to change. Why don't the French police stop more boats? The French insist there areboth legal and practical constraints. 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 the French interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, said he wanted to give the gendarmerie new powers that would allow them to intercept boats within 300m of the coast. 'We need to rethink our approach so that we can intercept the boats. They [the gendarmerie] must be able to intervene in shallow waters,' he said. Retailleau also said 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 who are only considered to have committed an offence when they launch the boat. More than three months on, neither of these changes have occurred. The Home Office said at the weekend 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. One of the concerns is said to centre around whether gendarmes should wear body armour in the water. Another is what French officers, who routinely carry guns, should to do protect them while in the sea. Why don't the French disable the boats before they launch? Two years ago the French began a new policy, at the behest of the British, of disabling boats before launch. This was done by slashing the rubber inflatables. But this prompted the traffickers to change their tactics, launching from inland waterways then sailing into shallow waters off Channel beaches, where they pick up migrants who wade out to meet the vessel. Because the boats were already in the water, police could not intercept or disable them. This new tactic is understood to be partly to blame for the fall in the number of boats being intercepted by France, from 47 per cent in 2023 to just over 38 per cent so far this year. What other issues are there? Manpower. In 2023, the UK agreed to pay France almost £500 million over three years for extra officers to join the effort. The French have 1,200 security personnel who can be deployed each day on coastal smuggler operations. Some 730 of them are paid for by the British. But they are still having to operate across 62 miles of coastline and many potential launch points. Even when police are present, they can face personal danger attempting to stop the boats. Last weekend in Audinghen, west of Calais, two officers were taken to hospital after being pelted with stones thrown by migrants who were boarding two boats. French police policy is only to intervene if there are enough officers present to safely control the situation. That is why you see pictures of police standing by while boats launch.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
QUENTIN LETTS: My friends in France say their country's ban on smoking in public will be ignored with a Gallic shrug. Will we be as defiant when it happens here?
The gendarmerie may be in for a busy summer. It will soon be illegal to smoke outdoors in France, the government having ruled that 'tobacco must disappear where there are children'. The ban will apply anywhere near youngsters, from the ski slopes of La Plagne or Courchevel to the boulevards of Reims and Marseille. Defense de fumer. If you hoped to stroll down Paris's Rue de Verneuil, sucking on a Disque Bleu while striking Serge Gainsbourg poses – sultry Sixties star Serge was seldom seen sans cig – then you have only 29 full days left to do it. From July, it will be illegal to light a cigarette en plein air. Those who disobey will be fined 135 euros (£113).
CBS News
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Power outage disrupts last day of Cannes Film Festival; police investigating possible arson
Movies to get excited about from Cannes Film Festival, dress code update A major power outage struck southeastern France on Saturday morning, disrupting traffic and briefly halting events at the Cannes Film Festival as the prestigious event prepared to hand out its top prize. Power was restored around 3 p.m. local time, as music began blasting again from beachfront speakers. The end of the blackout was greeted with loud cheers from locals. Earlier, about 160,000 households in the Alpes-Maritimes department lost electricity after a high-voltage line fell Saturday morning, electricity network operator RTE said on X. The outage came hours after a fire at an electrical substation near Cannes overnight had already weakened the grid. Police have opened an investigation into possible arson. "We are looking into the likelihood of a fire being started deliberately," said a spokesperson for the French national gendarmerie. Traffic lights are switched off during an electricity outage in Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 24, 2025. Lewis Joly / AP Cannes Film Festival organizers confirmed the outage affected the early activities of Saturday and said the Palais des Festivals — the Croisette's main venue — had switched to an independent power supply. "All scheduled events and screenings, including the Closing Ceremony, will proceed as planned and under normal conditions," the statement said. "At this stage, the cause of the outage has not yet been identified. Restoration efforts are underway." Traffic lights in parts of Cannes and the surrounding city of Antibes stopped working after 10 a.m. local time, leading to traffic jams and confusion in city centers. Most shops along the Croisette remained closed, and local food kiosks were only accepting cash. Train service in Cannes was also disrupted. Screenings at the Cineum, one of the festival's satellite venues, were briefly suspended, the festival added. The lineup was unveiled last month for Cannes.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Cannes film festival impacted as major power cut hits southern France
A major power cut across southern France left around 160,000 homes without electricity on Saturday and impacted the town of Cannes, which is currently hosting its annual international film festival. The power outage began at around 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET), France's electricity transmission network RTE said in a post on X, adding that teams are working to restore power as quickly as possible. 'We are looking into the likelihood of a fire being started deliberately,' a spokesperson for the French national gendarmerie told Reuters. No arrests have yet been made in relation to the power outage, the spokesperson added. Saturday is the last day of this year's Cannes Film Festival, which has been held in the town for 78 years, with the closing ceremony scheduled to take place in the evening. The festival is using generators to ensure that screenings are still able to go ahead, French public broadcaster FranceInfo reported. The Palais des Festivals, where Cannes' main events take place, has 'switched to an independent power supply, allowing all scheduled events and screenings, including the closing ceremony, to proceed as planned and under normal conditions,' the festival said in a statement, according to Reuters. Organizers of the festival told CNN affiliate BFMTV that there are 'no worries' that the power outage will affect the closing ceremony, which will see the winners of the festival's top prizes announced. The outage affected two screenings on Saturday morning for about five minutes, then they resumed, the organizers said, according to BFMTV. This story has been updated.
Reuters
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Reuters
Police probe possible arson attack as Cannes and parts of southern France suffer power cut
CANNES, France, May 24 (Reuters) - French police were investigating a possible arson attack as being the main cause for a power outage which hit the Alpes-Maritimes region in southern France on Saturday, including Cannes which is hosting its world-famous annual film festival. "We are looking into the likelihood of a fire being started deliberately," said a spokesperson for the French national gendarmerie, adding that no arrests had been made at this stage. The local authority for the Alpes-Maritimes region had said earlier on Saturday that the western part of the area, which includes Cannes, was suffering from a major electricity outage and that RTE France was working on restoring power. The Cannes Film Festival said the closing ceremony would take place as planned on Saturday evening. "The Palais des Festivals has switched to an independent power supply, allowing all scheduled events and screenings, including the Closing Ceremony, to proceed as planned and under normal conditions," it said in a statement.
