France will start stopping small boats in English Channel after UK pressure
French officials have consented to begin stopping migrant vessels in the Channel, following months of insistence from the United Kingdom.
This policy shift follows the Prime Minister wrote to the President asking him to support the plan and stating there currently "have no effective preventive measure" in the maritime passage.
French security forces have been authorized to stop the migrant vessels at sea, but only before they've picked up their migrants, according to official confirmation.
French police have infrequently intervened to stop the heavily loaded boats leaving the shoreline because it is considered excessively high a risk to both officers and civilians.
"It is crucial that we deploy these methods this month... We have no effective prevention in the Channel waters."
Currently, a French maritime police spokesperson states personnel will start intervening at sea, with the aim of protecting human life.
Notably, the official ruled out the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had previously been reported as a possible method to snarl the engines of the boats.
The decision to intervene at all is a major step forward, coming after a brief change towards a stricter approach this summer, which ceased when the previous government official left office.
This was demonstrated in the summer month, in the run-up to a meeting between the UK leader and President, when authorities were witnessed wading into the sea to slash the sides of a boat.
Currently French authorities will again be permitted to intercept boats before they pick up migrant individuals from the beaches of France's north coast, however it's not clear how the small boats will be prevented.
Powerful gusts are presently delaying the commencement of intervention operations and the human trafficking networks will be looking for methods to adapt to evade detection, as they have done so often in the past.
UK immigration authorities and the Prime Minister's office have been approached for response.
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