French authorities will start intercepting small boats in Channel after British demands
French officials have consented to begin stopping small boats in the Channel, following an extended period of insistence from the United Kingdom.
This policy shift comes after the British leader sent a letter to the President asking him to back the initiative and saying there currently "have no effective deterrent" in the Channel.
French security forces will be allowed to intercept the migrant vessels at sea, but only before they've picked up their migrants, according to authoritative confirmation.
French police have rarely intervened to prevent the overcrowded boats leaving the shoreline because it is viewed as excessively high a danger to both officers and civilians.
"It is crucial that we deploy these tactics this period... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel waters."
Currently, a French maritime police representative states officers will start taking action at sea, with the objective of protecting human life.
Notably, the spokesperson ruled out the use of entanglement devices to stop boats, which had earlier been reported as a potential method to disable the propellers of the boats.
The decision to intervene at all is a major advancement, following a brief change towards a stricter approach this summer, which dropped off when the former Interior Minister left office.
That was highlighted in July, in the run-up to a meeting between the UK leader and French president, when French police were witnessed wading into the sea to slash the hulls of a vessel.
Currently French authorities will once more be permitted to stop boats before they collect asylum-seeking passengers from the beaches of northern France, although it's uncertain how the vessels will be stopped.
Strong winds are currently postponing the commencement of intervention operations and the people-smuggling gangs will be looking for ways to adjust to evade interception, as they have done so often in the previous instances.
The Home Office and Downing Street have been contacted for response.
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