French authorities will start stopping migrant vessels in Channel after UK pressure
France has agreed to begin stopping small boats in the Channel, after an extended period of insistence from the United Kingdom.
The change in policy comes after the Prime Minister wrote to the President urging him to back the initiative and stating there presently "lack any effective preventive measure" in the maritime passage.
French maritime police will be allowed to intercept the small boats at sea, but only before they've collected their migrants, according to authoritative statements.
French police have rarely acted to prevent the heavily loaded boats departing from the shoreline because it is viewed as excessively high a risk to both officers and civilians.
"It is essential that we deploy these methods this period... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel waters."
Currently, a French maritime police spokesperson says personnel will start intervening at sea, with the aim of protecting human life.
Significantly, the official ruled out the use of entanglement devices to stop boats, which had earlier 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, coming after a brief shift towards a stricter approach this summer, which dropped off when the previous government official left government.
That was highlighted in July, in the run-up to a meeting between the UK leader and French president, when authorities were witnessed wading into the sea to slash the sides of a vessel.
Now French authorities will again be allowed to stop boats prior to they collect migrant individuals from the coastal areas of northern France, however it's uncertain how the small boats will be prevented.
Strong winds are presently delaying the commencement of intervention operations and the human trafficking networks will be seeking methods to adjust to evade detection, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.
UK immigration authorities and the Prime Minister's office have been approached for comment.
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