French authorities will start intercepting small boats in English Channel following British demands
French officials have consented to start stopping migrant vessels 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 saying there currently "have no effective deterrent" in the Channel.
French maritime police will be allowed to stop the migrant vessels at sea, but only before they've collected their passengers, according to official confirmation.
French authorities have infrequently intervened to prevent the heavily loaded boats leaving the coastline because it is considered too great a danger to both personnel and civilians.
"It is essential that we deploy these methods this month... We have no effective prevention in the Channel."
Now, a French naval police spokesperson says personnel will start intervening at sea, with the aim of protecting human life.
Significantly, the official excluded the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had earlier been suggested as a potential technique to disable the engines of the vessels.
The decision to take action at all is a major advancement, following a brief change towards a more aggressive strategy this summer, which ceased when the previous government official left office.
This was demonstrated in July, preceding a meeting between the Prime Minister and French president, when French police were witnessed wading into the sea to slash the sides of a boat.
Now French officials will again be allowed 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 stopped.
Strong winds are currently postponing the commencement of interceptions and the human trafficking gangs will be looking for ways 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 contacted for comment.
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