The "premier"

Boris Johnson

has ordered the dispatch of two patrol boats of the Royal Navy to the

island of Jersey, in the English Channel,

to avoid the blockade announced by the French fishermen in the port of the capital

Saint Helier,

in protest for the withdrawal of licenses after the end of the four-month "grace period" of Brexit.


The conflict has escalated in the last hours to a direct confrontation between London and Paris, as a result of the threat made by the French Minister of Maritime Affairs

Annick Girardin

to interrupt the electricity supply from land to the island, located off the coast of Normandy. .


Boris Johnson decided to send the two patrol boats on Wednesday afternoon, after an interview with Jersey Chief Minister

John Le Fondré,

who conveyed his concern at the announcement of the blockade by one hundred French ships by the head of the sector fishing boat in Normandy,

Dimitri Rogoff.


"As a protective measure, the UK will send two ships to monitor the situation," said a Downing Street spokesman, expressing "unconditional support" for Jersey in this crisis. The aforementioned spokesman described the possible blockade as "unjustifiable" and also condemned as

"unacceptable and disproportionate"

the threat of cutting off electricity to the island's 90,000 inhabitants from French soil, where 95% of Jersey's energy is produced.


The conflict began to intensify since last Friday, when the British Government granted licenses to fish 41 French boats, of more than 12 in length and with the condition of having fished at least for 10 days in a period of 12 months in territorial waters from Jersey. Another 17 boats were left out of the auction and

the French government described their exclusion as "unfair".


Minister Annick Girardin came out in defense of "the fishermen who have fished in these waters for decades" and reiterated her threat to "cut off the transmission of electricity to the island by submarine cables."


"The possibility of running out of power is serious, but the most real danger is that they will blockade our main port, as they did on our 'sister' island of

Guernsey

in the 1990s,"

Jersey Foreign Secretary

told

The Guardian

Ian Grost.

"We have emergency contingents prepared if something like this happens. The level of frustration is very high."

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