France to begin stopping migrant vessels in English Channel after British demands
French officials have consented to begin intercepting small boats in the Channel, after months of insistence from the UK.
This policy shift follows the British leader wrote to the President urging him to back the initiative and stating there presently "lack any effective preventive measure" in the Channel.
French security forces have been authorized to stop the migrant vessels at sea, but only before they've collected their migrants, according to authoritative confirmation.
French police have infrequently acted to prevent the heavily loaded boats leaving the coastline because it is considered excessively high a danger to both officers and civilians.
"It is crucial that we deploy these methods this period... We have zero effective deterrent in the Channel."
Currently, a French naval police representative says officers will start intervening at sea, with the aim of protecting human life.
Notably, the official excluded the use of entanglement devices to stop boats, which had previously been suggested as a potential method to snarl the engines of the boats.
The decision to take action at all is a major step forward, following a short-lived change towards a more aggressive strategy this warmer season, which ceased when the previous Interior Minister left office.
That was highlighted in the summer month, in the run-up to a meeting between the Prime Minister and President, when French police were witnessed wading into the sea to damage the hulls of a vessel.
Currently French authorities will once more be allowed to stop boats before they pick up asylum-seeking passengers from the beaches of France's north coast, although it's uncertain how the small boats will be stopped.
Powerful gusts are currently delaying the start of intervention operations and the people-smuggling networks will be looking for methods to adjust to evade interception, as they have done so often in the past.
The Home Office and Downing Street have been approached for comment.
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