UK faces record number of Channel crossings by migrants
Around 8,000 migrants have crossed the Channel since 2021 to reach the UK.
© Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
On Sunday July 25, 378 migrants managed to cross the Channel, a record number.
They take enormous risks to reach the United Kingdom from the French coast.
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With our correspondent in London,
Marie Boëda
9,000 migrants have reached British shores since the start of the year and 8,000 have been prevented from crossing.
These dangerous journeys are made in small boats.
And the reduction in ferry travel between France and the United Kingdom during the pandemic has only accentuated these practices.
Ads for smugglers on social networks
Smuggling gangs use duct tape to hold boats together.
Bicycle tires are used to make them float.
Albanian criminals are offering passage to the UK for around £ 20,000,
according to the
Daily Mail
.
And advertisements are even circulating on the TikTok social network.
The British authorities agree to pay 63 million euros to France to help stem this phenomenon.
The French government is trying to pass a law that has so far been rejected.
It would allow them to intensify surveillance using drones.
The migrants would thus be spotted during the crossing.
►Also read: Crossings of the Channel by migrants quadrupled in 2019
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