Footage from a beach in northern France shows French police officers clashing with a group as the authorities moved to stop a dinghy being launched for Britain. Men in lifejackets appear to throw objects to keep the officers away from the boat. The officers use Pava spray, and one is filmed slashing the inflatable with a knife so it cannot be used. UKNIP reports that the group had been carrying the dinghy towards the sea when officers arrived in vehicles, and that the video was released by the Home Office.
It came out with figures. The French authorities say they prevented 185 small boat crossing events — UKNIP dates that to between 27 April and 2 August, while the Guardian frames it as the three months since a new £660m deal with the UK. A crossing event counts stopping a launch, seizing boats, engines or lifejackets, and arresting smugglers. Officials estimate those interventions kept more than 4,300 people from attempting the crossing. Since the deal was signed in April, extra police units have worked the French beaches, including a 50-strong riot squad, and the Home Office says the action has included interceptions both on the beaches and at sea. Twelve so-called taxi boats have been stopped since March from moving up the coast to pick up more people.
The Guardian reports that the smuggling gangs appear to have changed tactics and are putting more people into single boats: this month a record 230 made the journey in one. It puts crossings this year at 15,897, down 43 per cent on the same point last year and 18 per cent below the same point in 2024.
Charities have warned that the increasing French police activity is putting lives at risk. The Guardian reports that Utopia 56 gathered evidence three weeks ago of 35 CS gas canisters fired by riot police near Dunkirk at people trying to reach a small boat, and said at the time that police pressure on the beach was putting more people at risk — that they had seen it the week before, were seeing it then, and had seen it for some time.
The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said the UK-France deal was already having a real impact, stopping crossings before they happen and disrupting the criminal gangs behind them, and that smugglers should be in no doubt their operations were being taken down and their equipment seized. She put the number of small boat crossing attempts stopped through joint work with France at over 47,000 since the election. Charlie Eastaugh of Border Security Command said French officers were not shy about taking bold action to prevent launches where it was safe and lawful to do so, and worked in difficult and dangerous conditions.
Reform UK has proposed using the Royal Navy to intercept people and take them to France or Belgium, describing that as a humanitarian response. France said the plan would be a violation of French sovereignty as well as of maritime and international law.
Why it is on the board
Second on the Guardian's most-viewed list when we collected, with video on it running at 1,800 views an hour — two of the three lens types we have for Britain.
확인: The Guardian · UKNIP