France to begin intercepting migrant vessels in Channel following UK pressure
France has agreed to start stopping migrant vessels in the English Channel, after months of insistence from the United Kingdom.
This policy shift follows the Prime Minister wrote to the President asking him to back the initiative and saying there presently "have no effective preventive measure" in the maritime passage.
French security forces will be allowed to intercept the migrant vessels at sea, but exclusively prior to they've collected their migrants, according to official confirmation.
French authorities have infrequently intervened to stop the heavily loaded boats leaving the coastline because it is viewed as excessively high a risk to both personnel and individuals.
"It is essential that we deploy these tactics this month... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel."
Now, a French maritime police spokesperson states personnel will start taking action at sea, with the objective of protecting lives.
Notably, the spokesperson ruled out the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had earlier been reported as a possible method to disable the propellers of the boats.
The decision to intervene at all is a significant advancement, coming after a short-lived shift towards a more aggressive approach this summer, which dropped off when the former Interior Minister departed from office.
This was demonstrated in July, in the run-up to a summit between the UK leader and French president, when authorities were witnessed wading into the sea to slash the sides of a boat.
Currently French officials will once more be permitted to intercept boats before they pick up migrant passengers from the beaches of northern France, although it's not clear how the vessels will be stopped.
Powerful gusts are currently delaying the start of interceptions and the people-smuggling gangs will be seeking methods to adapt to evade interception, as they have done so often in the previous instances.
UK immigration authorities and Downing Street have been approached for comment.
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