Highlights: French law enforcement uses sometimes dangerous techniques against migrant boats trying to cross the Channel. The investigation is based on testimonies from exiles recounting that their inflatable boat was pierced at sea by police officers. In one of them, we see a police semi-rigid circling around a migrant boat, creating dangerous waves. On the other, a small gendarmerie motorboat colliding with that of a group of exiles. The meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on March 10, 2023, marked a turning point.

French law enforcement uses sometimes dangerous techniques against migrant boats trying to cross the Channel. This is the conclusion of an investigation lasting several months...

Immigration: aggressive techniques of the French police against boats in the Channel

French law enforcement uses sometimes dangerous techniques against migrant boats trying to cross the Channel. This is the conclusion of an investigation lasting several months carried out by French, British and German journalists, published in particular in the French daily

Le Monde

on Sunday March 24. They have documented very aggressive interventions at sea, while officially, police and gendarmes are prohibited from intercepting the famous “small boats” once they have left the shore.

A French police officer observing a migrant boat in the English Channel, July 2023. AFP - BERNARD BARRON

By: RFI Follow

The investigation is based on testimonies from exiles recounting that their inflatable boat was pierced at sea by police officers, but also on two videos. In one of them, we see a police semi-rigid circling around a migrant boat, creating dangerous waves. On the other, we see a small gendarmerie motorboat colliding with that of a group of exiles.

For Tomas Statius, journalist for

LightHouse Reports

, an investigative media outlet which participated in this investigation, these videos corroborate the stories heard many times from

candidates for the crossing

, but never yet documented:

“

There is a risk that the boats will be pierced, that the boats will capsize, without taking into account – and this is also one of the elements that we reveal in this investigation – that these practices would be contrary to the own doctrine of the forces of the order. The maritime prefect indicates, for example, that its staff must avoid any route of collusion. Officially, the French authorities are only there to save lives at sea, not to do anything else. And it’s something completely different that we see in these videos.

For the authors of this investigation, the meeting between French President

Emmanuel Macron

and British Prime Minister

Rishi Sunak

on March 10, 2023, marked a turning point. London had announced 500 million euros to finance the fight against illegal immigration in France. An investment that would result in daily pressure for it to bear fruit.

Also listen Despite the winter and the failures, migrants still determined to cross the Channel

Immigration: aggressive techniques of the French police against boats in the Channel

Immigration: aggressive techniques of the French police against boats in the Channel

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