French authorities will start stopping small boats in English Channel after British demands
France has agreed to begin intercepting small boats in the Channel, following months of insistence from the United Kingdom.
The change in policy comes after the Prime Minister sent a letter to the President urging him to support the initiative and saying there presently "lack any effective deterrent" in the maritime passage.
French maritime police have been authorized to intercept the migrant vessels at sea, but exclusively prior to they've collected their passengers, according to authoritative confirmation.
French police have infrequently intervened to prevent the heavily loaded boats departing from the coastline because it is considered excessively high a danger to both officers and individuals.
"It is essential that we deploy these tactics this month... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel waters."
Now, a French naval police representative says officers will start taking action at sea, with the objective of safeguarding lives.
Notably, the spokesperson ruled out the use of nets to intercept boats, which had previously been suggested as a possible technique to snarl the engines of the boats.
This determination to take action at all is a significant step forward, following a brief shift towards a stricter strategy this summer, which dropped off when the former Interior Minister departed from office.
This was demonstrated in the summer month, preceding a meeting between the Prime Minister and French president, when French police were observed wading into the sea to slash the sides of a vessel.
Currently French authorities will again be permitted to intercept boats before they pick up migrant passengers from the beaches of France's north coast, although it's not clear how the small boats will be stopped.
Powerful gusts are currently postponing the commencement of intervention operations and the human trafficking networks will be looking for methods to adapt to evade detection, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.
UK immigration authorities and Downing Street have been approached for comment.
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